Developing a support system for teaching and assessing clinical competence.

Primary care medical school faculty, in partnership with the faculty and staff of a Department of Biomedical Communications (Office of Medical Education) developed a teaching and logistical support system using standardized patients. The patients are used to teach history and physical examination skills to students in an introductory clinical medicine course. Having both clinical assessment team members, who are skilled biomedical communicators, and designated clinic rooms for standardized patients provides the foundation necessary for this growing area in medical education. Improved student performance, as measured by an Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE), and students' positive ratings and comments in the evaluation of the course demonstrated the efficacy of using standardized patients in teaching and assessing clinical performance.