Student Comments

“The team who ran the CCA was wonderful! They were supportive, helpful, and thoughtful! There are certainly kind and intentional people working in this program.”

"I love the fact that we conduct our physical exams with standardized patients. it gives another opportunity for feedback on the soft skills of the physical exam, such as communication, as well as technical physical exam skills from our faculty members."

"Standardized patient interactions have been crucial to my learning, as it gives clinical correlations to what we learn in the lecture and doctoring classrooms."

"I really enjoy being able to interact with patients and standardized patients, so that we can begin practicing communication and interpersonal skills."

"The standardized patients have definitely helped me feel more comfortable interacting with patients and understanding what happens during a patient encounter."

"I was really nervous at the beginning, but I think the SP was extremely dedicated, and this helped me relax a bit and even forget that I was being videotaped."

"This was a great experience! My patient played his character very well and made the whole experience very realistic. I really appreciated the feedback I was given immediately after the interview. This SP exercise certainly gave me an excellent opportunity to practice my clinical skills and to find out which areas need improvement. I am confident that I will get better with each SP experience."

"This is a great exercise! I was really nervous before I began but as I went through the interview I began to feel more at ease. This is an essential part of the curriculum that will be very helpful in the future."

"Immediate feedback from the SP was great to have in learning how I can improve my delivery of bad news to a patient. This was a great session to have."

"The SP portrayed her character VERY well and helped me to fall right into the role of being the medical student. The SP also provided very good feedback, both positive and critical. She mentioned the two major areas that I saw as my weaknesses and provided some useful tips on how to improve those sections. I felt like my time with the SP was VERY well spent."