Standardized Patients

Standardized patients (SPs) are generally actors and actresses who have been trained to play the role of a patient.  Sometimes, those without formal acting experience are used. All individuals involved must be able to faithfully reproduce multiple times in the same day, the history, physical findings and emotions of the "real person" they are portraying-much like a part in a play. Standardized patient scenarios are based on true patients, and faculty design the cases from their own patient care experiences.

 

Using Standardized Patients (SPs) to teach medical students has a number of major advantages. SPs are available when and where they are needed while patients with acute illness or uncommon diseases often are not. If a student makes a mistake or interacts poorly with an SP, no real harm is done. In addition, SPs are trained to consistently duplicate the "performance," allowing valid comparisons among students and assessment of curricular strengths and weaknesses. Of equal importance, the SPs are trained to give constructive feedback from the patient's point of view.