Four medical students from the University of Pittsburgh won the National Board of Medical Examiners Centennial Prize for their proposal to develop a smartphone app to evaluate medical students' bedside manner and provide feedback.
The tool, called Trainee-Oriented Patient Communication Assessment System, surveys patients to provide objective and subjective real-time feedback for medical students. Students are then able to see patient feedback in an anonymous, randomized set of data. The school can also receive data on a cohort of students to track progress and adjust lesson plans.
"TOPCATS represents everything we hoped for when we put the call out for next-generation assessment ideas that would move our discipline forward. The fact that the winning team, chosen by a panel of judges along with the NBME members, staff, and volunteers, is a student team, who has applied their first-hand experience to a concept that will improve their education, makes us even prouder," NBME President Donald Melnick, MD, said in a statement. "It's a good sign for our continuing pledge to protect public safety through the high-quality assessment of health professionals."
The TOPCATS team will receive $5,000 and their proposal will enter the product development process led by NBME. If the concept is successful, NBME plans to launch the tool to help with physician-patient interactions, according to a statement.
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