We offer teaching workshops, assessments and consulting services in the following areas:
Select cases from our extensive case library or work with us to construct new cases to meet your needs.
History and Physical Examination Skills
Teaching workshops and assessments are available for the following topics. If you wish, the standardized patients or practical instructors can provide immediate feedback to participants, greatly enhancing the learning experience.
- Obtaining a history of the present illness
- Taking a medication history
- Obtaining a complete history
- Evaluating mental status
- Conducting a musculo-skeletal focused physical examination
- Examining the male genitourinary system
- Linking a focused history with a focused physical examination
- Performing a Head to Toe physical examination
Specialized communication skills
Learners at any level of training can benefit from realistic practice and immediate feedback on specific communication skills.
- Giving bad news to a patient or their family member
- Asking about domestic violence
- Assessing behavioral risks
Student Clerkship Examinations
Select or modify cases from our extensive case library to construct an examination that matches your clerkship objectives. Most cases include customizable patient checklists and patient findings questionnaires (post-encounter stations to assess clinical reasoning based on the previous interaction). Combine a traditional multiple choice exam of knowledge with standardized clinical encounters for a comprehensive student assessment.
- Clerkship Examinations in
- Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) in the same specialties. (An OSCE is composed of a series of brief standardized clinical encounters and post-encounter stations.)
Graduate Medical Education
Any of our history, physical examination and communication cases can be adapted for teaching and assessing residents. In addition, we offer the following specialized Graduate Medical Education programs:
- Core Competency Assessment in:
Faculty Development
Our innovative faculty development programs use "standardized students" to improve clinical teaching skills. Standardized students are actual health professions students, trained to portray a prototypical teaching challenge in a consistent way. Workshop participants watch themselves and others on videotape as they grapple with the teaching problem at hand, and have a chance to practice and consolidate their new teaching skills.
- Giving effective feedback
- Teaching efficiently in busy clinical settings
- Asking questions to improve clinical thinking
- Faculty development for community preceptors
Innovative Projects
Work with us to develop creative applications of simulated clinical encounters and/or the CPC facility to meet your needs. Some examples might be:
- Enhancing communication and interpersonal skills of practicing clinicians
- Measuring outcomes of skills training programs
- Training clinicians to select patients for clinical trials
- CME refresher courses in specialty physical exam and technical skills
- Examiner training (using standardized examinees) for high stakes performance assessments
- Training administrators to deal with difficult situations (eg, sexual harassment claims)
- Rater training for clinical trials
- Pilot testing rating scales and other assessment tools
- Using standardized patients to provide quality control assessments and feedback in clinics and physician offices
- Training pharmaceutical reps to talk to physicians
Unannounced Standardized Patients
An Unannounced Standardized Patient (USP) simulates medical conditions in a real-world setting, presenting incognito to participating clinicians, hospitals and clinics. Because clinicians do not know that their patient is a USP, the information gathered from the encounters provides an accurate picture of actual practices as they occur in a clinical setting. USPs can assess various aspects of physicians’ performance as well as appointment scheduling, clinic or laboratory wait time and other patient interface elements of healthcare systems. USPs are a unique tool with applications ranging from research projects to quality assurance.
Simulation Center
Lack of proficiency at basic procedural skills is a patient-safety issue, putting the patient at risk for increased complications until the student or intern learns to perform the procedure effectively and efficiently.
The UIC Clinical Performance Center has a large collection of task trainer simulator models that can be used to:
- Teach clinical skills systematically in an unhurried environment
- Provide the opportunity for repeated practice in a safe, relaxed setting.
- Document students' and residents' ability to perform each task effectively and efficiently using correct techniques.
Case Library
The Clinical Performance Center case library contains a large selection of ready-to-use encounters from which you can construct an examination or teaching program. Cases cover a range of chief complaints, diagnoses, and body systems (cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, gastrointestinal, neurological, psychiatric, etc.). All encounters were written by clinicians based on actual patient histories and physical findings. If you require customized scenarios we will be glad to work with you to modify existing cases or develop new ones to meet your needs.
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