Evaluating students in family medicine using simulated patients.

Various techniques have been used to evaluate students in family medicine clerkships and electives. Multiple choice or essay questions have been used extensively but are not satisfactory in testing some of the affective areas considered important for future family physicians. At Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, the Department of Family Practice has evolved an evaluation system using simulated patients as well as traditional methods. Simulated patients have proved to be an excellent means of evaluating affective skills which are not easily tested by other techniques.