[Evaluation of the clinical course Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy employing standardized patients].
OBJECTIVE
Since the Winter Term 2008/2009 the Medical School of the University of Muenster, Germany, has used standardized patients in the clinical course Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy with fourth-year undergraduate students performing bio-psycho-social anamnesis on these standardized patients. We wanted to evaluate the influence of the course on the empathy of the students.


METHODS
A total of 107 students participated in the standardized patient program during the Winter Term 2009/2010, with 90 (84.1 %) completing the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy before and after the course. In addition, we conducted a standard evaluation of the medical faculty.


RESULTS
The pre-post comparison revealed a significant increase in empathy (d = 0.331, p = .001). The standard evaluation yielded a high satisfaction among the course participants, though several students did assess the course critically.


CONCLUSIONS
The implementation of a standardized patient program in psychosomatics and psychotherapy proved to be of value, since it increased empathy of the students and received a positive evaluation. To prevent the students from being humiliated, it is of particular importance to implement a gentle and tactful feedback.
Univ.-Prof. Dr. med. Stephan Doering, Bereich Psychosomatik in der Zahnheilkunde, Poliklinik für Zahnärztliche Prothetik und Werkstoffkunde, Universitätsklinikum Münster,Waldeyerstr. 30, 48149 Münster. stephan.doering@ukmuenster.de
Stephan
S
Doering
Gudrun
G
Schneider
Markus
M
Burgmer
Janina
J
Sensmeier
Franz Bernhard
FB
Schrewe
Hendrik
H
Friederichs
Gereon
G
Heuft
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004645:Empathy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016544:Patient Simulation; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011611:Psychosomatic Medicine / Q000193:education*; D011613:Psychotherapy / Q000193:education*