Standardized patients are trained actors who portray patients during an interview and physical examination with a medical student or doctor in training. As part of medical education, medical schools now often use standardized patients to depict realistic patient interactions and presentations of disease. These standardized patients discuss their symptoms with the student. The medical student in turn conducts a patient interview and then may perform a physical examination. Through these interviews, medical students learn how to communicate with patients in a situation that does not require the use of actual patients. The September 7, 2005, issue of JAMA is a theme issue devoted to articles about medical education.
Grahic Jump Location
Standardized patient interviews are one of several methods for teaching clinical skills and measuring the abilities of medical students and doctors in training. These simulated interactions help students identify the symptoms (subjective patient experiences) and signs (objective abnormalities) of a particular disease. The student is able to improve his or her physical examination skills in order to aid in making an accurate diagnosis. In addition, standardized patients come from diverse backgrounds and expose students to important cultural issues. Thus, the medical student can learn how to identify and understand the physical, emotional, social, and cultural impact of illness.
Standardized patients are often trained to measure the interviewing and examining skills of the student with whom they interact. In addition, experienced instructors may observe the standardized patient interview and physical examination to evaluate clinical skills and recommend improvements. To become a licensed physician in the United States, medical students are now required to pass a clinical skills assessment with standardized patients as part of their medical licensing examinations.
In addition to live actors, computerized mannequins can also be used to model patients. Using high-tech devices, life-sized patient mannequins simulate the human body and allow students to listen to breath and heart sounds, feel pulses, measure vital signs, and much more. Students can perform medical interventions such as intubation (insertion of a breathing tube into the airway), medication injections, and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) (a procedure to restore breathing and circulation). These techniques help students learn to respond quickly and accurately to acute illness situations before they encounter them in real patients. Mannequins also allow students to practice medical procedures before attempting them on patients.
Association of American Medical Collegeshttp://www.aamc.org
National Board of Medical Examinershttp://www.nbme.org
To find this and previous JAMA Patient Pages, go to the Patient Page link on JAMA's Web site at http://www.jama.com. A Patient Page on medical education was published in the September 6, 2000, issue; one on continuing medical education was published in the September 4, 2002, issue; one on medical specialties was published in the September 3, 2003, issue; and one on academic health centers was published in the September 1, 2004, issue.
Sources: Association of American Medical Colleges, National Board of Medical Examiners
The JAMA Patient Page is a public service of JAMA. The information and recommendations appearing on this page are appropriate in most instances, but they are not a substitute for medical diagnosis. For specific information concerning your personal medical condition, JAMA suggests that you consult your physician. This page may be photocopied noncommercially by physicians and other health care professionals to share with patients. To purchase bulk reprints, call 718/946-7424.
TOPIC: MEDICAL EDUCATION
Country-Specific Mortality and Growth Failure in Infancy and Yound Children and Association With Material Stature
Use interactive graphics and maps to view and sort country-specific infant and early dhildhood mortality and growth failure data and their association with maternal
Instructions
Comments are moderated and will appear on the site at the discretion of the Journal of American Medical Association editors. Comments should not exceed 500 words of text and 10 references.
Do not submit personal medical questions or information that could identify a specific patient, questions about a particular case, or general inquiries to an author. Only content that has not been published, posted, or submitted elsewhere should be submitted. By submitting this Comment, you and any coauthors transfer copyright to the journal if your Comment is posted.
* = Required Field
Disclosure of Any Conflicts of Interest* Indicate all relevant conflicts of interest of each author below, including all relevant financial interests, activities, and relationships within the past 3 years including, but not limited to, employment, affiliation, grants or funding, consultancies, honoraria or payment, speakers’ bureaus, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, royalties, donation of medical equipment, or patents planned, pending, or issued. If all authors have none, check "No potential conflicts or relevant financial interests" in the box below. Please also indicate any funding received in support of this work. The information will be posted with your response.
Register and get free email Table of Contents alerts, saved searches, PowerPoint downloads, CME quizzes, and more
Subscribe for full-text access to content from 1998 forward and a host of useful features
Activate your current subscription (AMA members and current subscribers)
Some tools below are only available to our subscribers or users with an online account.
Download citation file:
Customize your page view by dragging & repositioning the boxes below.
and access these and other features:
Register Now
Enter your username and email address. We'll send you a reminder to the email address on record.
Athens and Shibboleth are access management services that provide single sign-on to protected resources. They replace the multiple user names and passwords necessary to access subscription-based content with a single user name and password that can be entered once per session. It operates independently of a user's location or IP address. If your institution uses Athens or Shibboleth authentication, please contact your site administrator to receive your user name and password.