Defining responsibilities of simulated patients in medical education

Abstract

Background: Simulated patients (SPs) play a critical role in medical education. The development of SP methodology has resulted in wide ranging responsibilities. For SPs to work effectively, we believed it was important to clearly articulate their responsibilities, and that this would be best achieved by consultation with all stakeholders-SPs, students, tutors, and administrators. Methods: As part of a quality assurance initiative, we designed a questionnaire and focus group study to explore stakeholders' perceptions of the responsibilities of SPs in teaching. Convenience and purposive sampling was used to recruit participants to questionnaires and focus groups, respectively. Data were analyz..