The evaluation of physician assistant students' history-taking abilities using actors as standardized patients.
OBJECTIVE
The value of professional actors as standardized patients (SPs) was evaluated in an exercise that normally uses students for SPs.


METHODS
A history-taking instructional curriculum was developed for a clinical skills exam for second-year students. Students anonymously rated their impressions of actors versus physician assistant (PA) students as patient simulators and assessed this exercise in the terms of the history-taking task areas described in the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA) Blueprint.


RESULTS
PA students perceived the actor SPs as more similar to real patients than peers simulating patients, developed greater confidence in history-taking ability, and believed that they significantly enhanced their history-taking skills.


CONCLUSIONS
This study demonstrates that students value the use of professional actors to simulate patients in teaching history-taking. Overall positive results encourage the use of professional actors as standardized patients.
Barry University, Miami Shores, Florida, USA. wlangen@mail.barry.edu
Wendy Hoon
WH
Langen
Debbi
D
Hanson
Richard
R
Fien
Doreen
D
Parkhurst
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004521:Educational Measurement / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008487:Medical History Taking; D008875:Middle Aged; D016544:Patient Simulation; D010823:Physician Assistants / Q000193:education*; D014481:United States