title: Standardized patient practices: initial report on the survey of US and Canadian medical schools.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There is currently a lack of information about the ways in which standardized patients (SPs) are used, how programs that facilitate their use are operated, the ways in which SP-based performance assessments are developed, and how assessment quality is assured. This survey research project was undertaken to describe the current practices of programs delivering SP-based instruction and/or assessment.
  
  
  METHODS
  A structured interview of 61 individual SP programs affiliated with the Association of Standardized Patient Educators (ASPE) was conducted over a 7-month period. A web-based data entry system was used by the 11 trained interviewers.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The two most common reported uses of SPs were learner performance assessment (88% of respondents) and small-group instruction (84% of respondents). Fifty-four percent of programs hired 51-100 SPs annually and paid an average of $15 and $16 per hour for training time and portraying a case, respectively. The average reported number of permanent program employees, excluding SPs and temporary staff, was 4.8 (sd = 3.6). The most frequently reported salary range was $30,001-$45,000.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We intend for these preliminary results to inform the medical education community about the functions of SPs and the structures of programs that implement these complex educational endeavors.
authors.affiliation: Carolinas Medical Center, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA. Lisa.howley@carolinashealthcare.org
authors.forename: Lisa D
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Howley
authors.forename: Gayle
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gliva-McConvey
authors.forename: Judy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Thornton
mesh_terms: D002170:Canada; D003625:Data Collection; D004501:Education, Medical / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D016544:Patient Simulation; D012456:Salaries and Fringe Benefits; D012577:Schools, Medical / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods*; D014481:United States