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Office of Medical Education
Offices of the DeanOffice of Medical EducationEvaluation & AssessmentStandardized Patients

Standardized Patients

Standardized Patients

Standardized Patients (SPs) are incorporated in the medical school curriculum throughout all four years. Interviews are videotaped so students can review their performance in conjunction with evaluation and feedback from both faculty and the standardized patients.

These experiences are conducted at the Standardized Patient Program, a state-of-the-art facility dedicated to the evaluation, assessment and teaching of technical skills for students, faculty and health care providers throughout the State of Maryland. This facility is a joint venture of the University of Maryland School of Medicine and School of Nursing.

 

Students experience and assessments include:

  • student's ability to conduct an appropriate history and physical
  • student's ability to identify presenting problems and risk factors
  • student's ability to formulate a differential diagnosis and plan of management
  • student's interpersonal communication skills, including verbal, paraverbal, and nonverbal communications
  • student's overall technique
 
Standardized patients are incorporated in the medical school curriculum during the following courses/clerkships:

Year 1

During Practice of Medicine I, students have six encounters with standardized patients and physical exam teaching associates (PETAs) that encompass the medical interviews with common medical problems, the neurological exam, head/eyes/ear/nose/throat (HEENT) exam and abdominal exam.

 

Year 2

During Practice of Medicine II, students have six encounters with standardized patients and physical exam teaching associates (PETAs) that encompass the medical interviews with common medical problems, the cardiac exam, pulmonary exam, musculoskeletal exam, and the genitourinary exam.

 

Year 3

Internal Medicine Clerkship, Family Medicine Clerkship, Obstetrics and Gynecology Clerkship all have Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCEs), which are experiences which involve simulated patient interactions specific to those specialties.

 

Year 4

Students are required to pass a multi-station Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) for graduation.