What are simulated patients?
The Simulated Patient is a teaching tool used since the late sixties in the Anglo-Saxon culture. It consists of a person playing a previously established role of patient (simulated patient) always in the same way (standardized patient). The fact that this person always acts in exactly the same way allows it to be considered an objective and reliable tool with many advantages over real patients in teaching and evaluation.
Simulated patients help students to have a smoother transition into the care of real patients. And on the other hand, the use of simulated patients allows students to interact with patients in settings in which they are normally only observers of reality, such as: emergency rooms, communication of bad news, etc.
What is a session with a simulated patient like?
Context and purpose
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The simulated patient is a teaching tool with more than fifty years of use in the Anglo-Saxon context: a person who interprets a clinical role in a standardized and repetitive way, making it an objective, reliable, and advantageous resource compared to real patients for teaching and assessment.
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This technique facilitates the transition of students to real patient care and allows them to practice in contexts where they would normally only be observers, such as emergency situations or breaking bad news.
Key elements of the session
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Consistent simulated role
The simulated patient is trained to reproduce symptoms and behaviors realistically and consistently across all sessions. This ensures an objective and comparable experience among students. -
Safe and structured environment
The session takes place in a controlled scenario, often with video recording technology, which allows the interaction to be reviewed and analyzed. This safe environment reinforces learning through practice without risks for real patients. -
Session dynamics
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A student interacts with the "patient," taking the medical history, performing an examination, or communicating information.
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After the interaction, the simulated patient steps out of role and provides direct feedback on the student's performance, highlighting strengths and areas for improvement.
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Educational benefits
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Addresses the lack of effective real clinical practice in the early stages of training.
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Allows the evaluation of clinical competencies (communication, history-taking, examination skills) with a common standard for all students, reducing the variability of real patients.
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Supports the implementation of OSCEs (Objective Structured Clinical Examinations), which assess competencies through multiple stations with realistic clinical scenarios.
Concrete example
A typical session might be:
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"Juan" acts as a patient with hypertension.
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The student, for example Annabel (6th year of Medicine), analyzes the symptoms and proposes a treatment plan.
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Finally, "Juan" steps out of role and provides direct feedback to the student.
End-of-course closure of the CFIS simulated patients
The closing meeting was held with the entire CFIS team and the simulated patients instructors (PSI). It was a very enriching gathering, full of reflection and recognition.
The session was introduced by the director of the center, Dr. Antoni Castro, and conducted by the URV pedagogue and simulation technician Cristina Pérez and the Family and Community Medicine doctor at CAP de la Selva del Camp and associate professor at URV Annabel Pellicer, to whom we are very grateful for their involvement and dedication.
During the session, we analyzed the results of the student satisfaction surveys, the qualitative comments on the simulation cases and scenarios, and the evolution of the simulation circuit (ACOE) in 6th year Medicine. We also looked ahead to the future, discussing the organization of the upcoming course.
To conclude, we used the Mentimeter tool to gather the voices of our PSI: we talked about learning outcomes, feelings, proposals for improvement, and also about how they experience their role within the students' formative journey.
Their vision is key to continuing to improve and innovate in clinical simulation. Thank you for your passion, time, and commitment!
We are already preparing for the upcoming course with great enthusiasm and new ideas!