As medical education moves toward significantly increased community-based training and medical students are placed in primary-care preceptorships, the Professional Skills Teaching and Assessment Center helps to ensure consistency in learning outcomes.

Our mission is to teach and assess clinical competencies in medical interviewing, clinical reasoning, ethical dilemmas, communication skills, physical examination, and the application of clinical knowledge.

To accomplish our objectives, we use the services of standardized patients (SPs). SPs are individuals from the community who are trained to present a clinical scenario, assess performance, and provide feedback to learners. The Center has SPs aged 16-78, including Physical Teaching Assistants and Genital Teaching Assistants who receive additional training in using their bodies in teaching, assessment and feedback on physical examinations.

The Center is a national leader in its broad use of SPs, including the following areas:

Admissions. Standardized applicants are used to help refine the interviewing skills of those who interview medical school applicants.

Medical and Health Professions Education. The use of SP and Teaching Assistants throughout the UME and MPA programs helps students master core clinical skills needed for future practice. Topics presented in didactic large-group lectures are reinforced in small group sessions that integrate the use of SPs and are enhanced by community practice preceptorships. Individual on-one-one interactions with immediate feedback on clinical performance allow students to practice and refine skills and techniques. This combination of teaching models and exposure to a number of primary- care clinicians helps students develop required clinical performance skills, professional attitudes and behaviors, and a general knowledge base.

Standardized Patient-based assessments are conducted throughout the two- and four-year curriculums and are individually tailored to meet the educational objectives and assessment needs of the courses and clerkships. Students are required to participate in clinical performance evaluations which assess their history, physical examination and communication skills, as well as their knowledge base and clinical reasoning skills.

Other EVMS programs using the Center include the Art Therapy Program, which uses standardized clients to assess and refine techniques.

Residency Training. Standardized patients are used for baseline and interval assessments of clinical skills in residency programs at EVMS.

Continuing Medical Education. Workshops and other formats utilizing SPs are designed for practicing health professionals regionally and nationally.

External Services. The Center provides its services on a contract basis to a number of external clients, including other medical schools, health professions programs, meetings of professional associations, and others.

Clinical Skills Review Course. In partnership with Tulane University*, the Center offers a Clinical Skills Review Course to medical students preparing for the USMLE Step 2 clinical skills exam, and to physicians who desire to improve their patient examination skills. For more information, visit the Clinical Skills Review Course Web site.