Learning Objective #1: Describe standardized patient encounters in nursing education curricula

Learning Objective #2: Identify at least three aspects of how standardized patient encounters enrich nursing education curricula

---

Encounters with standardized patients (SPs), lay actors employed and trained to portray specific scenarios, have become a commonplace strategy in medical education in the US and in 2004 became a required component of the National Board of Medical Examiners licensure testing for graduating medical students. The use of SPs in nursing education, while on the rise, is far from widespread. Our 4-year experience in developing and operating an SP program in a large nursing school offers multiple examples of how such encounters can be effectively integrated into nursing education curricula across undergraduate and graduate programs.

Encounters with SPs are designed to teach, model, or assess skill acquisition with the goal of evaluation of clinical competency. The faculty specified scenarios determine the content of the sessions for which SPs are carefully prepared so that encounters are consistent for all students in the course. Videotaping allows for evaluation of the encounter by faculty and self-assessment by the student. In addition, SPs carefully provide feedback and patient reflection to students following the encounter. Regular attention to quality improvement and inter-rater reliability assures the consistency of SP evaluation of students.

Summaries of student and faculty evaluations support the value of SP encounters for both learning and assessment. Our data demonstrate that SP encounters can improve the confidence and comfort level of students in carrying out specific activities with skills ranging from simple communication to complex patient care scenarios.

SP encounters provide the opportunity for students to work with these simulated patients in the safe, controlled setting of a laboratory. We believe they are an essential component of preparing confident and competent students to progress to actual patient care in the clinical setting.