title: Measurement of physician performance by standardized patients. Refining techniques for undetected entry in physicians' offices.
abstract: The article describes the development of methods to use live simulated patients for assessment of quality of care of primary physicians. Methods used to train patients and achieve undetected entry into physicians' practices are described. The study demonstrated that patients can be entered into practices with a low rate of detection (13%) and that they are able to recall the details of the encounter with a high degree of reliability.
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D008485:Medical Audit / Q000379:methods*; D011939:Mental Recall; D009864:Ontario; D010361:Patients; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D011361:Professional Competence