Our approach to education
The Standardized Patient (SP) is a person who has been trained to simulate a patient in a healthcare simulation. SPs act as patients in a case scenario that are carefully designed by faculty to teach students. These scenarios take place within our facility in a variety of settings from pre-hospital care in a home or ambulance to in one of our inpatient rooms. At times the SP portrays someone other than the patient including family members or other roles in which the learner must interact with.
SPs are not required to have any acting experience. Sometimes the SPs use their real known medical conditions to build cases, such as care of a diabetic patient.
The SP program provides a flexible and useful teaching strategy for our learners. It is helpful for the learner when they are transitioning from the classroom to the clinical environment where they are taking care of real patients. The scenarios are conducted in a controlled environment and are used to help students process and practice difficult situations such as giving bad news, dealing with hostile patients and or domestic abuse. One of the foundations of SP practice is giving feedback to the learners regarding their communication as well.