Virtual patients more effectively improve skills than traditional education (pooled SMD=0.90)¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · quant-synthesisr3·q3·i2medium
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 i2 Pooled analysis favors virtual patients over traditional education for skills (SMD=0.90, 95% CI 0.49 to 1.32), with improvements in clinical reasoning, procedural skills, and mixed procedural and team skills. → Kononowicz AA 2019
q3 i3 Pooled analysis favors virtual patients over traditional education for skills (SMD=0.90, 95% CI 0.49 to 1.32), a moderate to large effect. → 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 · i2 · quant-synthesis · r3
Random-effects meta-analysis of RCTs comparing virtual patients with traditional education on skills outcomes (Figure 4). The review reports "SMD=0.90, 95% CI 0.49 to 1.32, I2=88%, n=897"; 9 of 14 individual studies favored virtual patients.
"The pooled effect on skills outcomes was (SMD=0.90, 95% CI 0.49 to 1.32, I2=88%, n=897; Figure 4). Overall, this suggests that virtual patients have moderate to large positive effects in comparison with traditional education in the investigated types of skills."
Discussion¶
Related Claims¶
- Virtual patients blended with traditional education show moderate positive skills effects, but the pooled interval crosses zero — 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
- Virtual patients blended with traditional education improve knowledge more than traditional education alone (pooled SMD=0.73) — related
- Simulation Based Education With Deliberate Practice Improves Clinical Outcomes — a broader claim this one bears on
- 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
- Simulation Based Education Improves Outcomes — a broader claim this one bears on
- 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-traditional-skills-advantage |
aliases |
vp-vs-traditional-skills-favored |
title |
Virtual patients more effectively improve skills than traditional education (pooled SMD=0.90) |
description |
Virtual patients more effectively improve skills than traditional education (pooled SMD=0.90) |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
moderate |
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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