Standard patients: key to clinical learning in medicine

Abstract

This review article synthesizes the literature on the use of standardized patients (SPs) in medical education. The goal is to synthesize the existing evidence on the impact of SPs on clinical learning, identify best practices in their use, and explore their validity as assessment tools in medical education. SPs are individuals trained to accurately and consistently simulate real patients, providing a controlled environment for learning and assessing clinical skills. Their applications are diverse, ranging from training medical students to evaluating standards of care in clinical practice and research in health informatics. The use of SPs presents significant advantages in terms of standardization, temporal flexibility, safety, and efficiency, allowing for the practice of complex skills and the objective evaluation of performance. However, their implementation involves challenges, such as the costs and time required for high-quality recruitment and training, as well as limitations in simulating all aspects of real patient experience. In conclusion, standardized patients are a valuable and complementary tool in medical education, facilitating the acquisition of clinical competencies and performance evaluation, without intending to replace interaction with real patients.