As we reach the end of another successful exam season, we’d like to thank our simulated patients (SPs) for all their hard work and dedication this summer, without which we wouldn’t be able to deliver the valuable service we provide to medical schools. Our cohort of simulated patients come from acting or healthcare backgrounds, have a vast range of experiences within medical roleplay and have the unique qualities that make a great SP- respect and understanding of the importance of their role in students’ education, great attention to detail, dependability and a genuine love for the work.
As September approaches and we head into the 2018-19 academic year, we’ll be working alongside our clients on their teaching programmes, supplying simulated patients throughout the year to give medical students opportunities to demonstrate their communication skills and gain invaluable one-on-one patient experiences. We train our simulated patients to behave in a way that a real patient might in a consultation, which is not necessarily to offer up all of the information about their ‘ailment’ at once. Students are trained to ask questions to elicit the information and so their ability to pick up on verbal and non-verbal cues is put to the test.
Effective communication skills are at the core of good patient experiences in healthcare and we’re fortunate to work with wonderful clients who also strongly feel that a comprehensive medical education means that students’ are equipped with the tools to deliver good communication as well as clinical expertise.
By Iain Wilkinson, Account & Programme manager at Peel Roleplay