Why use SP’s for assessing students’ clinical skills?
By using SP clinical encounters, we are able to reliably assess the students’ interviewing, physical examination and communication skills. Once all of the evaluation checklists are scored, we will be able to directly compare each student’s performance to his/her fellow classmates. Also, there is the matter equity in the SP assessment. Therefore, all students taking an examination in our center will see the same exact “patients.” This is not possible in a real clinical setting, where the patients change daily. Using standardized patient examinations is also an excellent method with which to evaluate curriculum and promote faculty development. Who designs the cases? Physicians and Health Professionals from within the university write and develop the patient cases. The case authors also participate in the training of the standardized patients, along with the EEC staff, to assure an accurate and realistic portrayal. We also share and exchange cases with other standardized patient programs
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