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Background and Purpose. Although there is evidence that the use of standardized patients is effective in the development of psychomotor skills in medical and physical therapist students, there is little information in the literature about the feasibility of developing a standardized patient program in a physical therapy academic program. The purpose of this pilot project was to determine the feasibility of using standardized patients in the academic setting to assist physical therapist students in the development of psychomotor skills prior to their first clinical experience. Method/Model Description and Evaluation. For the purposes of this study, feasibility included measurements of faculty time, costs, and space requirements associated with the use of standardized patients. Thirty-nine first-year students were randomly assigned to either a control or experimental group. Students in the control group received the usual laboratory experience of working in partners and role-playing 2 patient scenarios involving gait training. Students in the experimental group worked in subgroups of up to 5 students with actors trained to simulate the same 2 patient scenarios. All costs associated with the experience were tracked and recorded. In addition to feasibility, student perceptions of the experience were measured. Students in both groups completed initial and follow-up questionnaires evaluating their perceptions of the usefulness of the experience. Outcomes. Costs and faculty time associated with the recruitment and training of the standardized patients for this one-time experience were found to be reasonable and were easily covered within the current program budget. Statistically significant differences (P Key Words: Feasibility, Physical therapy education, Standardized patients. INTRODUCTION Within the last 20 years, a number of schools, particularly medical schools, have started to use standardized patients in their entry-level (professional) educational programs as a learning tool to ease the transition between classroom and clinic.1-13 Advantages of using standardized patients in an academic setting include: availability of patients,14 repeatability and controllability of clinical experiences,1,14-16 adaptability of the experience to match the learner's level of skill and knowledge,14 reduced learner anxiety,14 and helpful feedback to the learner.16 In addition, recent changes in reimbursement policies within the health care industry could affect the ability of clinical sites to accommodate students, and alternative models of providing students the opportunity of developing clinical skills should be investigated. Although much of the literature on standardized patients relates to medical students, there is evidence that this approach is increasingly being used in physical therapist education programs.4,17 Given the numerous reported advantages of using standardized patients, such an approach, with its attendant costs and benefits, merits serious consideration and evaluation by physical therapist education programs. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE Barrows14 first used standardized patients in the early 1960s when an actor was programmed to portray the signs and symptoms of a patient with neurological problems for clinical clerks at the University of Southern California. Since that time, a number of other health care programs have used simulated patients, defined as well people who have been trained to portray patients, or standardized patients, defined as either simulated patients or actual patients who have been trained to present their illness in a standardized way. … |
