Podcast: How Standardized Patients Work
By: Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant, Stuff You Should Know
Submitted by: Anna Lank, C3NY

Even the most brilliant medical minds need a good bedside manner, and thanks to standardized patients, they can improve their skills. What are they? Part-time workers who pretend to be real patients so doctors can practice on live humans. If you're remembering Kramer on Seinfeld right about now, you're not alone.Listen to the podcast here.

General Interest: Med Students Create App to Connect LGBTQ Patient, Inclusive Doctors
By: Rebecca Oh
Submitted by: Stephen Charles, Educational Resources Committee Chair

Three medical students at the University of Pennsylvania are getting ready launch their LGBTQ-focused health care app, SpectrumScores, by the end of August.The app will connect lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer patients with doctors who have been recognized as LGBTQ-friendly by advocacy organizations, academic medical centers and, eventually, the app users themselves.Read the full article on the NBC News website here.

Editorial: Standardized Patients: It’s All in the Works
By: Nancy McNaughton & Mindi Anderson
Submitted by: Betty Grandis

A special edition of Clinical Simulation in Nursing dealing almost exclusively with standardized patients was published in July of this year, with an editorial and introduction by Nancy McNaughton, MEd, PhD, and Mindi Anderson, PhD, ARNP, CPNP-PC, CNE, CHSE-A, ANEF. Read the editorial and introduction here, or link to open access articles from the journal here (links may be slow).

Research Article: Simulation Training to Improve 9-1-1 Dispatcher Identification of Cardiac Arrest: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Lead author: Hendrika Meischke
Submitted by: Jennie Struijk, University of Washington

This study used standardized patients to improve 911 dispatcher response reactions to emergency calls. SPs from the program at the University of Washington participated in the study by dialing in during training sessions and reporting a variety of complaints to emergency medical dispatcher trainees. The article showcases some scholarly work in an area of simulation that does not always receive a lot of attention. Read the full article in Resuscitation here.

Media Article: Northwestern Medicine Caregivers Practice Having Difficult Conversations
By: Will Doss
Submitted by: Kerensa Peterson, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Frontline caregivers practiced breaking bad news to simulated patients at an innovative new multi-site seminar broadcast from Feinberg’s Simulation Lab earlier this month. The seminar uses active learning techniques to provide far more skill development than a simple lecture, according to course organizers. Read the full article at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine News Center here.

Research Article: Assessing the Performance and Satisfaction of Medical Residents Utilizing Standardized Patient Versus Mannequin-simulated Training
Lead Author: Ali A. Alsaad
Submitted by: Janice Radway, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

From the article: “At our institution, the traditional IM curriculum in clinical reasoning and critical thinking skills focused on the learner interacting with a simulation mannequin. Feedback from this experience was mixed, with the learners often pointing out that the interaction with the mannequin was unrealistic. We hypothesized that using an SP instead of a mannequin would not only give a more realistic experience but would also improve medical knowledge acquisition. Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare residents’ performance in management of four scenarios depicting patient clinical deterioration utilizing either a high-fidelity simulation mannequin or SP.” Read the results of this study in Advances in Medical Education and Practice here.

Media Article: Disaster exercise helps Texas A&M medical students develop skills for mass casualty scenarios
By: Kelan Lyons
Submitted by: Todd Lash

Lexie Valadez wasn't pregnant, but she gave birth to a beautiful baby doll on Thursday morning."I was a laboring mother today. I had a baby," said the Texas A&M University College of Nursing senior. Valadez was playing a role in A&M's ninth annual Disaster Day, a mass casualty disaster training exercise that aims to teach students vital skills needed to respond to emergency situations. Read the full article in The Eagle here.

Healthcare in Simulation Week 2017
By: Bob Bolyard, ASPE Member Liaison

Thanks to the Society for Simulation in Health Care (SSH), the week of September 11-15 will be celebrated as Healthcare Simulation Week. And ASPE has been invited to the party!

Karen Lewis receives Outstanding Educator of the Year Award
By: Grace Gephardt, ASPE President

The Outstanding Educator of the Year Award is awarded to a member that has been involved in human simulation education for more than seven years, has made significant contributions to the community, and is recognized as a leader within their own institution, the community, and in national and international organizations. Each year, nominations are sought and reviewed by an ad hoc committee of former recipients who carefully consider all nominees before arriving on a final decision. This year’s Outstanding Educator of the Year Award was presented to Dr. Karen Lewis during the ASPE Conference in Alexandria.

Immersive Training Experience Helps Teach Safe Opioid Prescribing
By: David C. Holzman
Submitted by: Valerie Fulmer

Simulation and immersive learning techniques appear to be particularly effective and powerful for teaching safe opioid prescribing, according to a new study. The research involved pain medicine fellows and anesthesiology residents at Stanford University—all trainees at the graduate level—working in a simulated outpatient pain clinic. There, a standardized patient actor played the role of a patient who meets the criteria of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) for an opioid use disorder, and is asking for an opioid refill to prevent withdrawal, having presented to the clinician with only one tablet of hydromorphone left. Read the full Pain Medicine News article here.

In the Age of Digital Medicine, the Humble Reflex Hammer Hangs On
By: Bret Stetka
Submitted by: Bob Bolyard

Receiving a diagnosis in 2017 — at least one made at a medical center outfitted with the latest clinical gadgetry — might include a scan that divides your body into a bread loaf of high-resolution digital slices. Your DNA might be fed through a gene sequencer that spits out your mortal code in a matter of hours. Even your smartphone might soon be used to uncover health problems.Yet nearly 130 years since its inception — after decades of science has mapped out our neuronal pathways — a simple knob of rubber with a metal handle remains one of medicine's most essential tools. I'm referring to the cheap, portable, easy-to-use reflex hammer. Read the full NPR article here.

Poster Winners: 2017 ASPE Conference
Compiled by: Todd Lash

Each year two categories of posters, research and innovation, are eligible for competition and recognition during the conference. Eligible posters are judged using criteria based on Glassick criteria for scholarship (Glassick CE et al, San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1997) and first-place and honorable mention prizes are awarded for each category. Details regarding the winning posters, as provided along with all poster submissions on the conference website, follow below. Congratulations to the winners!

The ASPE Standards of Practice are Live!
By: Karen Lewis, Standards of Practice Committee Chair

If you attended the ASPE Annual Conference, you know there was a lot of excitement about the announcement that the ASPE Standards of Best Practice (SOBP) were about to be published. The Standards of Practice Committee is thrilled to announce that the standards are now live at the Advances in Simulation website. You can read them here.

Media Article: How Anesthesia Residents Fare When Breaking Bad News to a Patient – 4 study insights
Commentary by: Eric Oliver
Submitted by: Valerie Fulmer, University of Pittsburgh

A study published in BMC Anesthesiology examined how anesthesiology residents break bad news in relation to critical incidents.YandaYazbeckKaram, MD, of the Lebanon-based Lebanese American University School of Medicine, and colleagues studied how anesthesiology residents broke bad news to patients through a simulator and through role-play situations.

Research Article: Meeting the Primary Care Needs of Transgender Patients Through Simulation
Lead author: Richard Greene
Submitted by: Todd Lash, Publications Committee Char

As reported in a Medical Xpress press release entitled “Transgender actors effective in teaching new doctors to provide respectful care,” by acting out scenarios commonly seen in the clinic, real-life transgender actors can help residents learn to provide more sensitive care to people with a different gender identity than the one they were assigned at birth. This is the main finding of a study published online June 15 in the Journal of Graduate Medical Education.

Media Article: Get Paid for Pretending to be a Patient
By: Chuck Otto
Submitted by: Cindy Bartman, Grand Valley State University

I’m a familiar face around my city’s medical center, where some know me as that closeted gay man who infected his wife with HIV or the hostile employee who physically threatened a co-worker in an act of road rage or the bipolar cocaine addict. Read the full Next Avenue article here.

Standards of Best Practice Laid Out for Patient-based Simulation
By: Carrie Bohnert

BioMed Central published a blog post by Carrie Bohnert about the publication of the ASPE Standards of Best Practice in Advances in Simulation. Carrie, the director of the Standardized Patient Program at the University of Louisville School of Medicine, is the Vice President for Operations on the ASPE Board of Directors as well as one of the authors on the publication. The blog entry, published on June 28, 2017, was the most-read entry on BioMed Central in the first week of July. The full entry can be read here.

TEDx Talk: I’m Proud of Lying to Your Doctor
By: Andrew Roblyer

When you think of medical school, what do you think of? Biology? Chemistry? Immunology? Andrew Roblyer thinks of empathy.

Media Article: Improving Surgeon-Patient Communication About High-Risk Surgery
Commentary by: Betty Ferrell
Submitted by: Valerie Fulmer, University of Pittsburgh

Best Case/Worst Case Communication - This novel project targets an important yet difficult clinical scenario: counseling patients facing high-risk surgery. To improve surgeon-patient communication in these situations, Kruser and colleagues developed a training program based on a "best case/worst case" (BC/WC) communication tool.

SP Video: Why Hospitals Hire People to Fake Being Sick
Submitted by: Marlena Dater, C3NY

This video was originally featured on seeker.com, which is a Discovery Channel website. The video about how medicine is taught by employing professional actors to act as sick patients in hospitals was part of an episode of their “Seeker Stories” web series about interesting and unheard-of stories. The video can serve as an introduction or as part of orientation to what SPs do. Watch the full video on YouTube here.