Virtual patients blended with traditional education show moderate positive skills effects, but the pooled interval crosses zero¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · quant-synthesisr3·q3
Currency · newest study 2019 · checked against its sources 2026-10-18 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person
Subclaims¶
Reading the evidence codes
q is the design tier, i the impact, n the sample, and the kind with its r
the rigour judged within that kind: what each code means.
This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.
q3 i? Pooled skills effect for blended virtual patients versus traditional education alone was SMD=0.60 (95% CI −0.07 to 1.27), with significant gains in only 3 of 7 studies. → Kononowicz AA 2019
q3 i2 The pooled skills effect of virtual patient blended learning versus traditional education alone is moderate in magnitude (SMD=0.60) but its confidence interval crosses zero. → Kononowicz AA 2019
Evidence¶
Kononowicz AA 2019¶
Kononowicz AA, Woodham LA, Edelbring S, Stathakarou N, Davies D, Saxena N, Tudor Car L, Carlstedt-Duke J, Car J, Zary N. (2019). Virtual Patient Simulations in Health Professions Education: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis by the Digital Health Education Collaboration. Journal of Medical Internet Research. https://doi.org/10.2196/14676
q3 · i? · quant-synthesis · r3
Random-effects meta-analysis of blended-learning skills outcomes (Figure 5). The review reports "SMD=0.60, 95% CI −0.07 to 1.27, I2=83%, n=247"; the CI includes zero, and 2 nursing studies showed no significant difference.
"The pooled effect for skills outcomes (SMD=0.60, 95% CI −0.07 to 1.27, I2=83%, n=247; Figure 5) suggests that virtual patients blended with traditional education have moderate positive effects in comparison with traditional education alone."
Discussion¶
Related Claims¶
- Virtual patients blended with traditional education improve knowledge more than traditional education alone (pooled SMD=0.73) — related
- Virtual patients are more effective than traditional education for skills outcomes (pooled SMD=0.90) — reports the opposite
- Virtual patients show larger effects when replacing passive traditional learning (lectures, reading) than active learning (group discussion, mannequin-based) — related
- Virtual patients are as effective as traditional education for knowledge outcomes (pooled SMD=0.11) — related
- In the few trials comparing them, virtual patients showed no significant knowledge differences versus other digital education, and skills differences in only one of three studies — related
- Live simulations with real patients showed the greatest effects among simulation types (g = 2.27, medical education only) — related
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
vp-blended-skills-mixed |
aliases |
vp-blended-skills-pooled-nonsignificant |
title |
Virtual patients blended with traditional education show moderate positive skills effects, but the pooled interval crosses zero |
description |
Virtual patients blended with traditional education show moderate positive skills effects, but the pooled interval crosses zero |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
weak |
newest_evidence |
2019 |
source_checked |
2026-10-18 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-17 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — kononowicz-aa-2019 |
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