Standardized Patients

Standardized patients are like actors who pretend to have medical complaints and then put themselves in the hands of inexperienced medical students.  We practice basic skills on them.  Today, I had to be taped while interviewing a standardized patient.  Not for a grade, just for feedback, and then I have to do a graded one at the end of the year.

It's a very unnatural thing.  I realize it's probably the best way to assess interviewing skills, but knowing you're on camera makes it feel so different.  I think everyone was a little more nervous than they would have been because of that.  I certainly was.  Once I started the interview, I forgot about the camera, but first walking into the room and making introductions and trying to get things started in a way that feels natural is next to impossible when you feel like an actor who forgot to read the script.

I was also a little freaked out when I finished my interview before the end of the allotted time and left the room, only to find that I was the only person in my group who had finished already.  After a minute or two, someone else came out of her interview room, and then more people started finishing and coming out, so it's not like I finished in 3 minutes and everyone else took 15, but I still had one minute of panic alone in the hallway thinking I must have skipped a part of the interview without realizing it.  Actually, I didn't miss anything, though I know I could have gone into more detail about some things.  But someone had to finish first, and it happened to be me.

Next week is our second biochem exam, and then I leave to spend winter break with my parents.  This blog will probably lie fallow for the rest of December, as I intend to think no medically related thoughts during break.

Why Medical Students Should Take Acting Classes

The first biochem exam was pretty easy, but I'd had a lot of the material before.  Now we're getting into stuff that I'm familiar with, but never really studied in detail.  The more specifically medical stuff.  Chromosomal abnormalities, genetics and cancer, that sort of stuff.

Thanksgiving was restful.  My parents picked me up and we went to visit a close friend of the family.  I didn't have to fly anywhere, plan anything, or handle a large family meal.  I don't think my mind could have handled any of those things.

Our clinical medicine course has moved on to taking a sexual history.  A lot of students lead into these questions by saying something like, "Sorry, I know this is awkward, but..." which I don't understand.  I guess some people just process awkwardness out loud, but I don't.  If I'm feeling awkward about something, I don't usually tell people that.  I would just ask the question, which is what you're supposed to do anyway.  In my head, I'm going "Oh god, this lady is old enough to be my grandmother and I'm asking her how many sexual partners she has," but then the ego kicks in and I try to act like I'm totally cool and definitely know what I'm doing.  Which is exactly what you should do.  If you act confident, most people will buy it.  The first real patient I interviewed on my first shadowing experience this year said she liked my interview style and was surprised when I said she was the first person I'd interviewed besides my classmates.  The reason for that?  I acted like I knew exactly what I was doing, even though I had absolutely no clue what she was talking about half the time.  And forget trying to write down the drugs everyone is taking.  You have no chance of spelling them correctly, and they're all in the official chart anyway.