Office of Medical Education
Curriculum : Standardized Patients
Programs at the University of Maryland School of Medicine
Standardized Patients (SPs) are incorporated in the medical school curriculum throughout all for years. Interviews will be videotaped so students will be able to review their performance in conjunction with evaluation and feedback from both faculty and the standardized patients.
Over the course of their undergraduate medical education, students will be evaluated on the following skills, knowledge, and behaviors:
- student's ability to conduct an appropriate history and physical
- student's ability to identify presenting problems and risk factors
- student's ability to formulate a differential diagnosis and plan of management
- student's interpersonal communication skills, including verbal, paraverbal, and non verbal communications
- student's overall technique
Standardized patients are incorporated in the medical school curriculum during the following courses/clerkships
Year I
During the Introduction to Clinical Practice Course, students will have three (3) encounters with Standardized patients that will encompass: history taking and review of systems, sexual history, and genetics.
Year II
During the Introduction to Clinical Medicine Course II, students will perform a Head to Toe physical exam, a GYN exam, and a GU exam with Standardized Patients as part of the Physical Diagnosis component of the course.
Year III
During the Obstetrics/Gynecology Rotation, students will have a multi-station (3) test that is designed to ascertain students' ability: (1) to do an appropriate history and physical, (2) to present a patient, (3) to formulate a differential diagnosis and plan of management. Students will also perform a complete pelvic exam.
During the Family Medicine Rotation, students will conduct one standardized patient interview that is designed to ascertain students' ability: (1) to gather a focused history, (2) to perform a focused physical, (3) to generate an appropriate differential diagnosis, (3) to communicate the diagnosis and options to the patient.
Year IV
Students will be required to pass a Six Station Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) for graduation.
Simulation Technology
Students throughout all four years will also have the opportunity to practice complicated skills on SimMan, a highly sophisticated, life-sized computer-driven human mannequin. Students will perform procedures on SimMan in conjunction with standardized patient interviews.
10 South Pine Street ~ MSTF 334 ~ Baltimore MD 21201
Phone: (410) 706-6613 ~ Fax: (410) 706-7607