FORT WAYNE, Ind. – Live professional actors working as Standardized Patients in various patient-care scenarios will bring a new level of training to students in the University of Saint Francis School of Health Sciences.
USF will begin using Standardized Patients and work with local professional actors to enhance its healthcare programs. Students will interact with live “patients” to gain a better understanding of therapeutic communication and empathy. Standardized Patients provide a higher level of realism and allow students to experience the patient perspective as well as the interprofessional collaboration involved in patient care.
“Standardized Patients will enhance the student learning experience in our state-of-the-art Simulation Lab through the power of human interaction” said Dr. Mindy Yoder, Dean of the School of Health Sciences.
Standardized Patients will play the role of patients, family members or healthcare team members in simulated patient-care scenarios in USF’s high-fidelity simulation lab. These scenarios will be regularly used by USF students in many fields, such as physician assistant and family nurse practitioner. The Standardized Patient program begins May 22 with USF Radiologic Technology students in an Emergency Room trauma simulation.
For more information, contact Dawn Parker, Director, USF School of Health Sciences Simulation Lab, at 260-399-7700, ext. 8521, or email at dparker@sf.edu.
Founded in 1890 in the Catholic Franciscan tradition, the University of Saint Francis offers more than 70 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral programs through the School of Health Sciences, School of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Keith Busse School of Business and Entrepreneurial Leadership and School of Creative Arts. In addition to its traditional programs, USF designs focused curricula for working adults in Fort Wayne, Crown Point and online. USF Downtown houses the university’s business and music technology programs while offering enhanced internship and networking opportunities for students. The University of Saint Francis campus experience includes 16 athletic programs boasting two individual and four team NAIA national championships, and is recognized as an NAIA Five-Star Champion of Character institution. Approximately 2,200 students from a broad geographic region attend USF.