Using a standardized family to teach clinical skills to medical students.

BACKGROUND: The use of standardized patients has been an accepted instructional methodology in medical education for many years. A logical evolution of this methodology is the creation of a standardized patient family. DESCRIPTION: This article describes one such standardized family, the Jones family, and how the family is used to teach interpersonal skills, interviewing, communication, counseling, and history-taking skills to medical students. EVALUATION: After several years of using the Jones family, we have found that more comprehensive scripts need to be developed, that recruitment and retention of standardized patients for a year long program does not seem to be a problem, and that the value added by a standardized family greatly enhances the educational experience for students. A standardized family seems a logical educational vehicle for teaching continuity of care, confidentiality, contextual placement of medical information within family dynamics, cultural beliefs, community orientation, and generalism.
CONCLUSION: A standardized family is a viable instructional methodology that deserves greater use in medical education.