PURPOSE: The value of professional actors as standardized patients (SPs) was evaluated in an exercise that normally uses students for SPs. METHODS: A history-taking instructional curriculum was developed for a clinical skills exam for second-year students. Students anonymously rated their impressions of actors versus physician assistant (PA) students as patient simulators and assessed this exercise in the terms of the history-taking task areas described in the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA) Blueprint. RESULTS: PA students perceived the actor SPs as more similar to real patients than peers simulating patients, developed greater confidence in history-taking ability, and believed that they significantly enhanced their history-taking skills. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that students value the use of professional actors to simulate patients in teaching history-taking. Overall positive results encourage the use of professional actors as standardized patients.
PURPOSE: The value of professional actors as standardized patients (SPs) was evaluated in an exercise that normally uses students for SPs. METHODS: A history-taking instructional curriculum was developed for a clinical skills exam for second-year students. Students anonymously rated their impressions of actors versus physician assistant (PA) students as patient simulators and assessed this exercise in the terms of the history-taking task areas described in the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA) Blueprint. RESULTS: PA students perceived the actor SPs as more similar to real patients than peers simulating patients, developed greater confidence in history-taking ability, and believed that they significantly enhanced their history-taking skills. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that students value the use of professional actors to simulate patients in teaching history-taking. Overall positive results encourage the use of professional actors as standardized patients.