Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-qsmjn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-20T09:27:44.206Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Simulated patients in undergraduate education in psychiatry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

John M. Eagles
Affiliation:
Royal Cornhill Hospital, Cornhill Road, Aberdeen AB25 2ZH, email: john.eagles@gpct.grampian.scot.nhs.uk
Sheila A. Calder
Affiliation:
Royal Cornhill Hospital, Aberdeen
Sam Wilson
Affiliation:
Medical Education Unit, University of Aberdeen
Jane M. Murdoch
Affiliation:
University of Aberdeen
Paul D. Sclare
Affiliation:
Royal Cornhill Hospital, Aberdeen
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

This paper describes the use of simulated patients in medical education and how actors have been deployed with medical students in Aberdeen. The advantages and disadvantages of using actors for student education are summarised and we conclude with some possible future developments. At the outset, it may be helpful to outline some definitions, as in the review by Barrows (1993). A ‘standardised patient’ is an umbrella term for both an actual patient who is trained to present his or her own illness in a standardised way and also for a simulated patient who is a well person trained to portray an illness in a standardised way. This paper will use these terms but will relate mainly to the use of professional actors (not volunteers from the general public, who are often deployed by medical teachers) as simulated psychiatric patients.

Type
Education & training
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2007

References

Adamo, G. (2003) Simulated and standardised patients in OSCEs: achievements and challenges 1992–2003. Medical Teacher, 25, 262270.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ainsworth, M. A., Rogers, L. P., Markus, J. F., et al (1991) Standardised patient encounters: a method for teaching and evaluation. JAMA, 266, 13901396.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barrows, H. S. (1993) An overview of the uses of standardized patients for teaching and evaluating clinical skills. Academic Medicine, 68, 443451.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barzansky, B. & Etzel, S. I. (2004) Educational programs in US medical schools, 2003–2004. JAMA, 292, 10251031.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Birndorf, C. A. & Kaye, M. E. (2002) Teaching the mental status examination to medical students by using a standardized patient in a large group setting. Academic Psychiatry, 26, 180183.Google Scholar
Bokken, L., Van Dalen, J. & Rethans, J.-J. (2004) Performance-related stress symptoms in simulated patients. Medical Education, 38, 10891094.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brazeau, C., Boyd, L. & Crosson, J. (2002) Changing an existing OSCE to a teaching tool: the making of a teaching OSCE. Academic Medicine, 77, 932.Google Scholar
Chur-Hansen, A. & Koopowitz, L. (2002) Introducing psychosocial and psychiatric concepts to first year medical students using an integrated, biopsychosocial framework. Education for Health, 15, 305314.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Clay, M. C., Lane, H., Willis, S. E., et al (2000) Using a standardized family to teach clinical skills to medical students. Teaching and Learning in Medicine, 12, 145149.Google Scholar
Du Boulay, C. & Medway, C. (1999) The clinical skills resource: a review of current practice. Medical Education, 33, 185191.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eagles, J. M., Calder, S. A., Nicoll, K. S., et al (2001a) A comparison of real patients, simulated patients and videotaped interview in teaching medical students about alcohol misuse. Medical Teacher, 23, 490493.Google Scholar
Eagles, J. M., Calder, S. A., Nicoll, K. S., et al (2001b) Using simulated patients in education about alcohol misuse. Academic Medicine, 76, 395.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ekblad, S., Manicavasagar, V., Silove, D., et al (2004) The use of international videoconferencing as a strategy for teaching medical students about transcultural psychiatry. Transcultural Psychiatry, 41, 120129.Google Scholar
General Medical Council (1993) Tomorrow's Doctors. GMC.Google Scholar
Haist, S. A., Wilson, J. F. & Pursley, H. G. (2003) Domestic violence: increasing knowledge and improving skills with a four-hour workshop using standardized patients. Academic Medicine, 78, S24S26.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Haist, S. A., Griffithiii, C. H., Hoellein, A. R., et al (2004) Improving students' sexual history inquiry and HIV counselling with an interactive workshop using standardized patients. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 19, 549553.Google Scholar
Halbach, J. L. & Sullivan, L. L. (2005) Teaching medical students about medical errors and patient safety: evaluation of a required curriculum. Academic Medicine, 80, 600606.Google Scholar
Harden, R. M., Stevenson, M., Downie, W.W., et al (1975) Assessment of clinical competence using objective structured examination. BMJ, i, 447451.Google Scholar
Jotkowitz, A. B., Glick, S. & Porath, A. (2004) A physician charter on medical professionalism: a challenge for medical education. European Journal of Internal Medicine, 15, 59.Google Scholar
Kales, H. C., Neighbors, H.W., Blow, F. C., et al (2005) Race, gender, and psychiatrists' diagnosis and treatment of major depression among elderly patients. Psychiatric Services, 56, 721728.Google Scholar
Kassebaum, D. G. & Eaglen, R. H. (1999) Shortcomings in the evaluation of students' clinical skills and behaviors in medical school. Academic Medicine, 74, 842849.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kelly, M. & Murphy, A. (2004) An evaluation of the cost designing, delivering and assessing an undergraduate communication skills module. Medical Teacher, 26, 610614.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ker, J. S., Dowie, A., Dowell, J., et al (2005) Twelve tips for developing and maintaining a simulated patient bank. Medical Teacher, 27, 49.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Knowles, C., Kinchington, F., Erwin, J., et al (2001) A randomised controlled trial of the effectiveness of combining video role play with traditional methods of delivering undergraduate medical education. Sexually Transmitted Infections, 77, 376380.Google Scholar
Luck, J. & Peabody, J.W. (2002) Using standardised patients to measure physicians' practice: validation study using audio recordings. BMJ, 325, 679683.Google Scholar
Quest, T. E., Otsuki, J. A., Banja, J., et al (2002) The use of standardized patients within a procedural competency model to teach death disclosure. Academic Emergency Medicine, 9, 13261333.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rose, M. & Wilkerson, L. (2001) Widening the lens on standardized patient assessment: what the encounter can reveal about the development of clinical competence. Academic Medicine, 76, 856859.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Taverner, D., Dodding, C. J. & White, J. M. (2000) Comparison of methods for teaching clinical skills in assessing and managing drug-seeking patients. Medical Education, 34, 285291.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Trudel, J. F. (1996) Simulated patients for the teaching of basic psychotherapeutic techniques: a practical guide. Annales de Psychiatrie, 11, 1418.Google Scholar
Tysinger, J.W., Klonis, L. K., Sadler, J. Z., et al (1997) Teaching ethics using small-group, problem-based learning. Journal of Medical Ethics, 23, 315318.Google Scholar
Van Zanten, M., Boulet, J. R., Norcini, J. J., et al (2005) Using a standardised patient assessment to measure professional attributes. Medical Education, 39, 2029.Google Scholar
Wallace, P. (1997) Following the threads of an innovation: the history of standardized patients in medical education. Caduceus, 13, 528.Google Scholar
Wallach, P. M., Elnick, M., Bognar, B., et al (2001) Standardised patients' perceptions about their own health care. Teaching and Learning in Medicine, 13, 227231.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wettach, G. R. (2003) A standardized patient enrolled in medical school considers the national clinical skills examination. Academic Medicine, 78, 12401242.Google Scholar
Wilkes, M., Milgrom, E. & Hoffman, J. R. (2002) Towards more empathic medical students: a medical student hospitalization experience. Medical Education, 36, 528533.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilson, L., Kahan, M., Liu, E., et al (2002) Physician behavior towards male and female problem drinkers: a controlled study using simulated patients. Journal of Addictive Diseases, 21, 8799.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.