| The Standardized Patient Program at the University of Michigan Medical
School was established in 1989. U of M was one of the first medical schools
in the United States to implement a formal SPI program for its students.
Currently, our students participate in a dozen different cases that are
distributed throughout the medical students’ four years. These 12
exercises are composed of 24 different patient scenarios. The cases progress
and get more demanding over the years as the students’ foundation
of medical knowledge and communication skills continue to grow. |
| In addition to successfully completing the SPI exercises in the curriculum,
the students also need to complete the Comprehensive Clinical Assessment.
This assessment is a multi-station examination more commonly referred to
as the CCA, and occurs at the beginning of the medical student’s fourth-year.
Our case bank of CCA cases now totals 15, where there are anywhere between
5-8 standardized patient cases used each given year. The standard patient
is just one component of the CCA, and passing these patient encounters is
now a new requirement on step two of the United States Medical Licensing
Examination (USMLE). |
