Edinburgh Medical School

Simulated Patient programme

Simulated patients portray the characteristics of real patients to help medical students to learn about doctor-patient interactions.

A simulated patient being examined by medical students

The Edinburgh Simulated Patient Programme supports training and assessment of medical students and professionals. Our team of dedicated volunteers get involved in teaching sessions, examinations and teaching videos/online learning packages.

 

Why was the programme set up?

The Simulated Patient Programme was launched in 2001 by Programme Coordinator and Fellow in Medical Education, Bryan Allan.

It was introduced to meet the needs of a re-structured and developed curriculum to equip students with the skills, competencies, attributes, and attitudes that would allow them to function effectively, and confidently, as a doctor following graduation.

Therefore, it was believed important that students were given the opportunity to communicate with patients from an early stage in their training. The programme allows these interactions to happen in a safe and relaxed enviroment throughout the MBChB course and beyond. The programme follows the spiral feature of the MBChB curriculum in that students revisit themes again and again as they progress through the modules, with scenarios becoming more complex and challenging as the student continues through the years.

 

Get involved

If you are interested in becoming a simulated patient,  please download the information leaflet and application form below. Email the completed form to CME.Support@ed.ac.uk 

Alternatively, you can post it to: Simulated Patient Programme, University of Edinburgh, Chancellor's Building, 49 Little France Crescent, Edinburgh, EH16 4SB.

You can also get in touch if you are interested in accessing our bank of volunteers to enrich your institution's educational training.

 

Downloads

Contact us

If you have any questions, or would just like to have an informal chat about the programme then please call or email either:

CME support, CME.Support@ed.ac.uk

Byan Allan, 0131 242 6417, Bryan.Allan@ed.ac.uk

Irene Carita Morelli, 0311 242 9414, irene.carita@ed.ac.uk