My Mother, A Professional Patient

• Published in: Health Affairs 2006-09, Vol.25 (5), p.1407-1411
• Main Author: Wartman, Steven A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Achievement tests; Communication; Customer satisfaction; Education; Health care delivery; Interviews; Medical schools; Medical students; Older people; Patients; Physician patient relationships; Physicians; Schools; Skill development; Surgeons
• ISSN: 0278-2715; 1544-5208
• DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.25.5.1407

The author narrates his experience with his eighty-eight-year old mother becoming a professional patient. In recent years the US' medical schools have been moving toward a new type of education model that uses trained participants to portray specific kinds of patients. The concept is straightforward: Medical students can learn important interviewing and physical examination skills from individuals playing the roles of patients. Simply put, "standardized patients" is an effective education tool. Carefully designed "patient protocols" are developed so that medical students can interview actor-patients who present with specific standardized medical problems. The students then conduct limited physical examinations and summarize the findings, all in a relatively short period of time. Which comes back to the insight the author achieved last year: His mother had become, in a real sense, a professional patient. His mother believes that her actress-patient experience has changed the way she views and interacts with her own physicians. She is more alert and knowledgeable.