Virtual patients to explore and develop clinical case summary statement skills amongst Japanese resident physicians: a mixed methods study

Background In Western clinical training, formulation of a summary statement (SS) is a core exercise for articulation, evaluation, and improvement of clinical reasoning (CR). In Japanese clinical training, structured guidance in developing CR, including opportunity for SS practice, is uncommon, and the present status of case summarization skills is unclear. We used Virtual Patients (VPs) to explore Japanese junior residents’ SS styles and the effectiveness of VPs on improving SS quality.