The biggest reward I have had in being a simulated patient is being able to play a small but vital role in the training of professionals already working as GPs, registrars, or surgeons, who require further or more intensive training.
It is often very difficult to know how much, or what type of feedback to provide these practitioners who already have degrees and work with patients on a daily basis.
The importance of the feedback I can give as a “patient” was highlighted to me recently by one of the medical educators who regularly provides training to doctors around Australia. He told me that I had been very supportive to a registrar who had been very stressed and uncomfortable with the topic of the scenario, due to the sensitivity of the medical issue and some gaps in his knowledge, and that my honest reactions had made a difference to the gentleman’s assessment.
I guess my role in feedback is to speak about how I feel I have been treated and whether or not my concerns have been met in the consultation, either in a clinical or hospital setting.
Genevieve Frew (genevieve.mef@bigpond.com.au)