By: Lou Clark, PhD, MFA, Andrea Doyle, PGDip, Med Phys, MedEd, BSc, PhD, Melih Elcin, MD, MS, CHSE-A, Nancy McNaughton, PhD, Cate Nicholas, EdD, MS, PA, FSSH, Tamara Owens, PhD, MEd, CHSE, Cathy Smith, PhD, MA, BA Hons, CHSE, Karen Szauter, MD, MACP, FAMEE, Kuan Xing, PhD, Debra Nestel, AM, PhD, FAcadMEd, FSSH
Submitted by: Miranda Powell, AS, CHSE, University of South Alabama

In modern healthcare education, simulated participants (SPs) play an essential role in bridging the gap between theoretical knowledge and clinical practice. These trained individuals portray patients, family members, or other key roles in structured simulations, allowing healthcare learners to refine their communication, clinical reasoning, and procedural skills in a controlled environment. Their contributions are critical to improving patient safety and the overall quality of medical training. However, despite their significance, SPs often face challenges related to recognition, training consistency, and emotional well-being. The article, Call to Action: Honoring Simulated Participants and Collaborating With Simulated Participant Educators, underscores the need for institutions to formally acknowledge and support these vital members of the healthcare education ecosystem. Simulated participants facilitate experiential learning by providing students with realistic patient interactions, enabling them to develop essential competencies before engaging with real patients. Their ability to offer structured, high-quality feedback enhances the learning experience, ensuring that learners gain both technical proficiency and strong interpersonal skills. However, despite their integral role, SPs frequently remain undervalued within the academic and clinical training landscape. Many institutions fail to provide formal recognition or adequately define their roles, treating SPs as ancillary components rather than core contributors to healthcare education. Beyond the issue of recognition, a lack of standardized training presents another significant challenge. Variability in preparation methods can lead to inconsistencies in SP performance and the quality of feedback delivered to learners. Establishing comprehensive training protocols would help ensure uniformity and reliability in simulations, ultimately enhancing educational outcomes. Additionally, the emotional and psychological demands of portraying patients—particularly those with complex or distressing conditions—should not be overlooked. Without appropriate support mechanisms, SPs may experience undue stress or emotional fatigue, which can impact their performance and overall well-being. To address these challenges, institutions must adopt a structured and intentional approach to integrating SPs into healthcare education. First, formal recognition through clearly defined roles and professional titles will help solidify their status as key members of the educational team. Second, the development of standardized training programs will promote consistency and improve the overall quality of simulated encounters. Third, providing emotional and psychological support—such as debriefing sessions, peer support networks, and access to counseling—will help safeguard the well-being of SPs, enabling them to perform their roles effectively. Finally, fostering collaboration by involving SPs in curriculum development and feedback processes will further enhance the educational experience for both learners and educators. Simulated participants are invaluable to the advancement of healthcare training. Their contributions extend beyond simple role-playing; they serve as educators, evaluators, and facilitators of critical learning experiences. Recognizing and supporting SPs is not merely an ethical imperative but a necessary step toward ensuring high-quality, patient-centered medical education. As healthcare training continues to evolve, institutions must prioritize the inclusion and professionalization of SPs, ensuring they receive the respect and resources necessary to excel in their roles.

Lead Author: Adam Kronish, MD
Submitted by: Amy Lorion, NBOME

Kronish, et al. note that, because of an increase in hospitalizations for mental illness, children and adolescents in need of psychiatric care are increasingly being admitted into general pediatric wards until beds in psychiatric wards are available, creating a need for staff outside of psychiatric wards to be trained in how to respond to “escalations due to dysregulated behavior.” Accordingly, they designed a study to train residents in how to deal with an adolescent patient who becomes “acutely agitated with aggressive behaviors.” They opted for “a standardized patient (SP) case as the teaching method to immerse the learner and evoke authentic emotional and physical reactions to this difficult scenario.” Based on results from 22 residents, the authors found that they had “effectively evaluated learner self-efficacy, with residents expressing an aggregate increase in confidence in their own knowledge and abilities.”

Lead Author: Violeth E. Singano
Submitted by: Amy Lorion, NBOME

This article describes a study in Tanzania comparing two approaches to teaching nursing students to perform a mental status evaluation (MSE): one where lecture is paired with practice performing the MSE with patients in a general medical ward who do not have symptoms of mental illness (control group) and one where the lecture is instead paired with performing the MSE with SPs trained to portray mental health symptoms (intervention group). The study involved 311 students from nursing schools across two regions of the country, with 202 students in the control group and 109 in the intervention group. The intervention group demonstrated “a significantly higher level of cognition regarding Mental Status Evaluation (MSE) when compared to the control group” plus “a 25% increase in confidence and cognition about mental health compared to traditional instructional hours.”

Lead Author: Banafsheh Ghorbani
Submitted by: Amy Lorion, NBOME

This article is a striking reminder of cultural differences surrounding SP work as well as the need to engage with SPs about their experiences and their perceptions of their role. Ghorbani et al. interviewed 15 SPs in Tehran, Iran, on their experiences “as SPs in the student education process.” The interviews were semi-structured and each lasted 60-90 minutes. The authors found two themes, with three subthemes each, including the subthemes of “guilty conscience” and “fear of judgment by others” in the “duality of feeling” theme. Among the SPs, they found there was “a prevailing feeling of guilt because participants received payment for their involvement in the educational process. They believed that as educators, they should contribute without monetary compensation. …participants shared concerns about the perception others might have if they found out about receiving payment. They feared being seen as financially needy or from a lower social class, leading to a diminished sense of worth. Consequently, they preferred to keep their involvement and compensation a secret. The worry about how students perceived them consistently occupied their thoughts.”

By: Kimberly A. Conway and Robert L. Scoloveno
Submitted by: Renee Wadsworth, Simclusive

By: Lauren Woods et al
Submitted by: Marsha Harman, Rush Center for Clinical Skills and Simulation

This study aimed to examine how occupational therapy (OT) students incorporate real-time Simulated Patient (SP) feedback, numerical feedback (i.e. scores), and instructor-written feedback to enhance their learning from the simulation experience. This mixed methods study collected learner assessment numerical data and qualitative data (SP feedback and instructor written feedback) in first-year OT students’ simulation learning sessions. The students answered six debrief questions reflecting on the simulation process, explaining how they plan to incorporate the feedback in future OT practice. Quantitative results of student performance data were reported. Seven themes emerged from the thematic analysis of the debrief reflections. These themes provided information on students’ perceptions of the experience and illustrated how they plan to use the feedback. The findings of this study provide instructors strategies that can be used to enhance student learning when designing simulations. This study found that numerical and written feedback from the instructor was more meaningful when combined with real-time SP feedback.

Lead Author: Katharine Cardiff
Submitted by: Amy Lorion, NBOME

According to Cardiff et al., “Psychiatric genetic counseling (pGC) has been demonstrated to have meaningful positive outcomes for people with psychiatric conditions and their families. However, it is not widely accessed, and clinical genetics services tend to receive few referrals for these indications.” To gain insight into how to breach this gap, the authors undertook a study “to understand the perceptions of and reactions to a simulated pGC session among psychiatrists.” The study involved recording a 65-minute simulated pGC session with an SP.

By: Erin Walsh, Standardized Patient Educator, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, North Chicago, IL

Receiving a scholarship to attend the 2024 ASPE conference in Vancouver, BC, Canada, was a profound honor. The theme of this year's conference, “Inspiring growth, motivating change, and creating opportunities,” resonates with me during this time of intense change in politics, education, and training. This last year was challenging professionally when my mentor, Barbara Eulenberg, retired. ASPE helped me shift my focus from looking at these major changes in the negative to reframing them as opportunities for growth and change.

By Amy Rush and Samantha Syms

The ASPE Communications and Connections Committee took its name seriously when planning for the 2024 ASPE conference in Vancouver, B.C. To facilitate connections, create some fun activities and make memories, it was decided that a conference-wide scavenger hunt was in order. Committee members Renee Wadsworth, Amanda Fernandez-Acosta, Amy Rush and Samantha Syms designed the hunt and the ASPE board backed the endeavor. The scavenger hunt, open to all conference attendees, but completely voluntary, was facilitated using the Whova conference app, with which the committee communicated with attendees via the community message board.

By: Mary Launder

The depth of extraordinary work and contributions given to the ASPE Community is highlighted through the annual awards presented to those outstanding members who serve the ASPE community. Eligible ASPE members are nominated by colleagues and coworkers and the nomination committees hold a standard fair and inclusive process. This 2024 awards ceremony was held in person in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on June 26^th, 2024.

By: Janice Radway, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

The Opening Plenary of the 2024 ASPE Conference in Vancouver started with a splash. Or should I say song? There was no PowerPoint. There was no one standing on the big stage with screens behind them. Instead, we were treated to Petula Clark’s “Downtown” and a dancing Janece Shaffer, along with two ASPE members who have some skilled dance moves. Of course we sang along.

By: Amy Rush, Center for Healthcare Improvement and Patient Simulation at University of Tennessee Health Science Center

Our thirteenth ASPE president Dr. Lou Clark gave the ASPE president address during the opening session of the 2024 ASPE Conference in Vancouver, B.C. on Sunday, June 23. She began by acknowledging the work Jen Owens did as conference chair, not only for this ASPE conference, but for the past four years. She read a message on behalf of the current conference committee, thanking Owens for her, “exceptional service as the ASPE conference chair.” Clark then gave a talk called, “Our Story.” She highlighted ASPE’s mission and its members. We currently have 918 members from 44 countries and 65 are Canadian members! She recognized the 16 ASPE Board of Directors.

Journal Article: Challenges facing standardised patients representing equity-deserving groups: Insights from health care educators

By: Matt Sibbald et al