Podcast: Invisibilia – The Culture Inside
Hosts: Hanna Rosin and Alix Spiegel, NPR
Submitted by: Dan Brown, Emory University School of Medicine

At the 2018 ASPE Conference in Kansas City, Jennifer Murphy of the University of Michigan presented on “Addressing Unconscious Bias in SP Training.” At this session, she played an excerpt from NPR’s Invisibilia podcast. The episode she sampled, The Culture Inside, examines the brain’s unconscious biases, particularly relating to race, and how these biases form.

Journal Article: Considerations When Using Standardized Patients in EMS Simulation
Lead author: Timothy Whitaker
Submitted by: Dena Higbee, University of Missouri

The use of live humans as part of a simulation activity enhances realism by allowing a more realistic communication exchange that includes nonverbal cues. EMS has long used “actors” to portray an illness or injury during a simulation. Many of us can remember our paramedic school instructors often stepping in to play the part of the patient. Embracing standard language from the Healthcare Simulation Dictionary, actors come in many forms based on the need of the simulation activity: embedded participant, role player, simulated person and standardized patient.

Media Article: Using Simulation in Dietetics Education
By: Christen Cupples Cooper
Submitted by: Todd Lash, Publications Committee Chair

A nutrition and dietetics student sits before a 45-year-old female patient who complains of chronic weakness. The student has reviewed the patient's chart and considered her self-reported body weight and ideal body weight. The student begins discussing the duration of the patient's weakness and appetite changes.

General Interest: If the Doctor is Listening, You Have 11 Seconds
By: Susan Noakes
Submitted By: Michael Maury, UC-San Diego

As SP Educators, we understand the importance of good communication skills in medicine. If we study the research we know that it is a proven fact that open-ended questions are answered with more information. We use this fact to write and build cases that reward students with a more detailed history response for any open-ended questions asked. A US study found that only 36 percent of doctors started a patient visit with an open-ended question. The study also found that after an open-ended question is posed, the patient gets a median time of 11 seconds to answer before the doctor interrupts them. While it is important to continue our practices of encouraging open-ended questions, these data might make one pause to consider focusing on the aspect of listening completely to the answer that is being provided as well. Are we doing all we can as SP Educators to provide our students with the right communication skills to be the best doctors possible?

Media Article: New ways actors can benefit your doctors-in-training
By: Lisa Mulcahy
Submitted by: Dysn Colpo, Cleveland Clinic Simulation and Advanced Skills Center

You're no doubt familiar with "standardized patients" — professional actors who role-play with medical students and residents to simulate real-life patient interactions. Often, these interactive experiences teach doctors-in-training how to handle basic communication situations, such as how to prescribe medication or explain a diagnosis. New research initiatives, however, are greatly expanding the knowledge medical students and residents can glean from working with actors, leading to more emotional insight when they work with real patients, as well as better effectiveness at sharing medical information with those real patients.

Resource: Using Simulation Training to Improve Culturally Responsive Child Welfare Practice
Lead Author: Robin Leake
Submitted by: Amber Snyder, University of Pittsburgh

Child Welfare professionals work in diverse communities and manage complex factors influencing parenting, values, and worldviews of the families they support. Working across varied communities requires culture awareness and responsiveness. The project outlined in this research intended to enhance cultural awareness and responsiveness through a competency-based training program using simulation.

Research Article: Utilizing Standardized Patient Feedback to Facilitate Professional Behavior in Physical Therapist Students: A Pilot Study
Lead author: Mary Anne Riopel
Submitted by: Janice Radway, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

Literature is lacking on the impact that verbal feedback from SPs may have on Physical Therapist students regarding professional behaviors. The purpose of this pilot study was to examine the use of SP feedback as a strategy for professional behavior development. Though the pilot study did not provide significant evidence on the value of this educational strategy, trends did show that stress management and problem solving improved over time from the group of PT students that received SP feedback. Future research will be beneficial to examine differences in perceptions of professional behavior between SPs, students, and faculty.

Conference: A Recap of SP Day
By: Dan Brown, Emory University School of Medicine

Saturday, June 16, 2018 was ASPE’s annual SP day, and participation was at a record high. 45 SPs signed up for the full day of speakers and activities. There were 11 breakout sessions, a plenary speaker, and several other activities.

Media Article: It’s Hard for Doctors to Unlearn Things. That’s Costly for All of Us.
By: Aaron E. Carroll
Submitted by: Kerensa Peterson, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

This article, which appeared recently in the New York Times, highlights some of the dangers to patients in continuing medical practices that have been deemed unnecessary through research.  An interesting, tangential article that might make simulator educators think about how simulation education could help to “unlearn” habits that have been created in the medical world.

General Interest: Words Matter When Talking About Pain With Your Doctor
By: Patti Neighmond, as heard on Morning Edition
Submitted by: Todd Lash, Publications Committee Chair

If you're in the hospital or a doctor's office with a painful problem, you'll likely be asked to rate your pain on a scale of 0 to 10 – with 0 meaning no pain at all and 10 indicating the worst pain you can imagine. But many doctors and nurses say this rating system isn't working and they're trying a new approach. The numeric pain scale may just be too simplistic, says Dr. John Markman, director of the Translational Pain Research Program at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. It can lead doctors to "treat by numbers," he says and as a result, patients may not be getting the most effective treatment for their pain.

General Interest: How Pretending to be Sick Could Help You Make Money
By: Catherine Alford
Submitted by: Dan Brown, Emory University School of Medicine

If you ever wonder where some of your “internet-referred” applicants come from, this article may be enlightening. The Penny Hoarder describes itself as “one of the largest personal finance websites. We help millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more.”

Congratulations: Peggy Wallace - One of the Pillars of the SP Educator Profession – Is Retiring
By: Rob MacAulay
Submitted by: Michael Maury, UCSD School of Medicine

One of the pillars of the standardized patient (SP) educator profession is retiring September 28, 2018. Please join all of us at UC San Diego as we wish Dr. Peggy Wallace all the best in her new adventures.

Conference: Dr. Kim Edward LeBlanc’s Plenary Address to ASPE: Do We Need Clinical Skills Assessment?
By: Michael Maury, UC-San Diego

Tuesday’s ASPE plenary address was delivered by Dr. Kim Edward LeBlanc. Dr. LeBlanc is the Executive Director of the Clinical Skills Evaluation Collaboration (CSEC). CSEC creates and administers the USMLE Step 2 Clinical Skills Examination. He is a family physician with a certification in Sports Medicine, previously served on the Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners for nearly 14 years, and was Professor and Head of the Department of Family Medicine at the LSUHSC School of Medicine in New Orleans for 11 years.

Conference: Dr. David Zamierowski’s Plenary Address to ASP: Cybernetics and Empathy
By Kerensa Peterson, Northwestern University

Dr. David S. Zamierowski delivered the opening plenary session to an eager group of ASPE Annual Conference attendees on Sunday, June 17^th in Kansas City, MO.  He began his lecture by walking the audience through a brief history of cybernetics.

Conference: Dr. Jo Brown’s Plenary Address to ASPE: Putting Simulation in an Educational Context – Some Fresh Insights
By: Dan Brown, Emory University School of Medicine

Monday morning at ASPE began with a plenary address from Dr. Jo Brown, Head of Quality in Teaching and Learning at Bart’s and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, titled Putting Simulation in an Educational Context – Some Fresh Insights. Dr. Brown began with a caveat: “You may not agree with everything I say.” She paused, then added “Good.”

Poster Winners: 2018 ASPE Conference
Compiled by: Todd Lash, Publication Committee Chair

Each year 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. Details regarding the winning posters, as provided along with all poster submissions on the conference website, follow below. Congratulations to the winners!

Special Interest Groups: The Value of Reviewing Best Practices in GTA/MUTA Programs
By: Kerensa Peterson, Northwestern University

At the year’s ASPE Conference, I had the opportunity to attend the pre-conference workshop, “Create and Manage a GTA/MUTA Program and Train Instructors Using the ASPE Standards of Best Practice.” The presenters – Holly Hopkins, Molly Chasion, Richard Claflin, John Darrow, Jennifer Murphy, Chelsea Smith, Tim Webster and Rose Zaeske – used the World Café model for small group discussions. These discussions focused on using the ASPE Standards of Best Practice (SOBP) to further define, strengthen and develop GTA (Gynecological Teaching Associate) and MUTA (Male Urological Teaching Associate) practices.

Article: Meet the Robot Helping to Save Real Lives
By: Nushrat Rahman
Submitted By: Michael Maury, UC-San Diego

In this article, the author, Nushrat Rahman, writes of the rapidly evolving technology of simulation mannequins and their positive effect on medical education. Rahman writes about Dr. Craig Reickert, director of the center and division of Colon and Rectal Surgery at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit who notes, “Whether via mannequins or standardized patients participants can be more emotionally invested and mentally active during simulation exercises.” The author goes on to write, “With real-time feedback from monitors and patients, they’re more capable of recognizing the gravity of situations and responding accordingly. This realism allows content to “stick” better for adult learners, and when it does, it means better care for actual patients with authentic symptoms.” As SP Educators, we understand the importance of giving learners a situation in which they can safely fail and make mistakes which lead to understanding.

Media Article: The Art and Science of Patient Safety
By: Maya Bell
Submitted by: Todd Lash, Publications Committee Chair

Wearing an oxygen mask and neck brace, the teenager is conscious but confused when he arrives in the ER with a paramedic who advises he fell down stairs after swallowing an unknown quantity of antidepressants, opioids, and alcohol in an attempted suicide. “Help me, please help me,” moans the 17-year-old named Oscar. “Where am I? Why is everything so blurry? Am I wearing 3D glasses?”

Research Article:  Standardized Patients in Psychiatry – the Best Way to Learn Clinical Skills?
Lead author:  Monika Himmelbauer
Submitted by:  Dyan Colpo, Cleveland Clinic

At the Medical University of Vienna, SPs portray four different patient roles in psychiatry depicting depression/suicidal tendencies, somatoform disorder, anxiety disorder, or borderline disorder. Instructor and SP give constructive feedback to the student afterwards. The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality of the SP’s roleplay and feedback. Students and teachers evaluated SPs’ performance and feedback very well; however, the SP’s quality of roleplaying was evaluated as the poorest while playing the psychiatric disorder “depression/suicidal tendencies.”