Advancing the Use of Standardized Patients: A Workshop for the Consortium of Thai Medical Schools

Abstract

In August 1995, the Consortium of Thai Medical Schools hosted a 10-dayworkshop on clinical skills teaching. The 40 participants came from IOmedical schools and included delegates fr-om two nursing faculties. Thaischools are primarily reaching clinical skills through lectures anddemonstrations, and through direct experience in clinical problemsolving with real patients. Workshop participants are now: as a resultof this workshop, considering introducing standardized patients (SPs)into their undergraduate curriculum in order to enhance their students'basic clinical skills.During the workshop, participants developed teaching resources litconjunction with learning about SPs as a valuable tool. The SP componentof the,workshop reviewed selecting SPs, training SPs to simulatephysical findings and patient affect, as well as training SPs to givefeedback to students.Despite the increasing use of SPs in medical education, the theory andpractice of SP training and program management is still a developingfield. Without better theory development. there is, and will continue tobe, a dependence on experts already in the field who may be bound bycultural and socioeconomic assumptions. By better defining principlesand guidelines for incorporating SPs into medical curricula the use ofSPs internationally will advance.