Based in the Office of Medical Education, CSTAP recruits and trains simulated or standardized patients for instructional and assessment exercises.

Standardized patient methodology has been established as a valid, reliable and practical method of teaching and evaluating medical students. A properly trained standardized or simulated patient can serve as a patient, teacher and evaluator, allowing our future health care providers the opportunity to practice and receive feedback on specific skills related to patient interviewing, physical examinations and issues of professionalism. Our ultimate goal is to prepare learner participants to be competent and compassionate physicians that provide quality, state-of-the-art patient care. Standardized patients (SPs) are individuals who are carefully screened and trained to simulate the signs and symptoms of an actual patient. The cases they portray are based on actual patient encounters experienced by physicians. Standardized patients (SPs) are also trained to provide feedback to the learners, especially in the area of interpersonal communication. Since our inception in 1994, learner participation has increased to 4300 hours of formative and summative activities in both undergraduate and graduate medical education. We have 150 standardized patients currently registered, offering us a variety of skills, languages and cultural diversities. Presently, there are 140 cases on file for faculty and program use.
[hide]