Difficulties in using simulation to assess abdominal palpation skills

BMC Medical Education

Table 3 The item difficulty indices and item discrimination indices of the 11 cases in the two tests

	Novices % correct	Intermediates % correct	Experienced % correct	Overall % correct	Disc. Index	P-value
Test 1 (Jucheng simulator used)
• Hepatomegaly	58	92	67	72	0.21	0.18
• Positive McBurney’s sign + rebound tenderness	50	92	67	69	0.11	0.09
• Splenomegaly	58	58	50	56	0.14	0.90
• Positive Murphy’s sign	8	8	17	11	0.03	0.77
• Pancreas tenderness	17	0	8	08	0.08	0.36
• Normal abdomen	50	67	67	61	0.38	0.65
Test 2 (AbSim simulator used)
• Hepatomegaly	58		67	63	0.23	0.69
• Splenomegaly	83		42	63	-0.04	0.04*
• Gallbladder tenderness	83		67	75	-0.32	0.37
• Appendix tenderness	67		92	79	-0.01	0.15
• Normal abdomen	67		92	79	-0.43	0.15

ISSN: 1472-6920