Surrogate Patients in Medical Education

Abstract

This review considers the use of surrogate patients in the teaching of part or all of the physicianpatient encounter in medical schools. It describes the areas where the use of surrogate patients has produced results superior to traditional methods of education, namely in the fields of the interview, the neurological and the pelvic examinations. It describes some of the special features of the use of surrogate patient/teachers in the pelvic examination. It discusses methods of recruiting and training surrogate patients/teachers.

Problem-based learning

“…‘Time out’ discussions are possible, when the simulated patient can temporarily be set aside. Contacts with real patients, in the actual clinical setting, can be brought about when the student has already acquired the necessary basic skills in clinical reasoning and examination through his experience of the simulated formats (Ostrow, 1980).…”