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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.

MEDICAL STUDENT LEARNING AND ASSESSMENT

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. . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Erin Brender, MD, Writer; Alison Burke, MA, Illustrator; Richard M. Glass, MD, Editor

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