Simulated patients (SPs), also referred to as actors or role players, are a significant investment in healthcare education and when used skilfully, they can transform communication skills teaching, impacting learners’ confidence, ability and future practice.

This highly practical 3.5-hour online course is designed for healthcare communication teachers who want to maximise the educational value of working with SPs in small-group teaching. Participants will explore evidence-based strategies, teaching techniques, and facilitation skills that enhance realism, deepen learner engagement, and ensure SP time is used efficiently and effectively.

The course focuses on what teachers can do before, during, and after SP encounters to optimise learning, feedback quality, and learner confidence—without increasing cost or complexity.

Workshop focus

This workshop explores how communication-skills teachers can maximise the educational value of simulated patients (SPs) during experiential teaching.

Learning Objectives
By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Facilitate small-group sessions that maximise learner participation and psychological safety
• Identify and effectively manage common challenges that arise during SP role-play
• Use Agenda-Led Outcomes-Based Analysis (ALOBA) to set an appropriate level of challenge while maintaining flexibility within SP role-play
• Demonstrate how to calibrate the level of emotional intensity in a role-play to meet learners’ individual needs
• Guide SPs to deliver specific, descriptive, and learner-focused feedback
• Intervene skilfully during SP encounters to enhance learning without disrupting realism

Teaching Methods
This workshop will use a highly interactive approach, with participants actively exploring many of the techniques used in effective SP-based teaching. It will aim to model best practice in experiential learning and, allowing participants to both experience and critically examine strategies throughout.

Methods will include:

• Brief targeted teaching inputs to introduce key concepts and frameworks
• Observation and analysis of simulated patient encounters
• Facilitated small-group discussion and reflection
• Skills practice focused on facilitation, intervention, and feedback
• Use of real-world examples drawn from participants’ own teaching context

Facilitators:

Marcy Rosenbaum, PhD, is Professor of Family Medicine at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine in the US. She is the former President of EACH and former co-chair of tEACH, the teaching committee of EACH. She has conducted research on and taught about clinical communication and medical education for over 30 years with a particular emphasis on experiential simulation and workplace based communication learning.

Sandra Winterburn is an emeritus Associate Professor at Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia,UK.
She has a background in nursing and has been actively involved in teaching clinician-patient communication to a range of professional groups, at both undergraduate and postgraduate level, for more than 20 years. Sandra is is former Co-Chair of the teaching committee (tEACH) within EACH and has a particular interest in: -Small group experiential teaching methods -Train the Trainers initiatives – & Curriculum Design for Healthcare communication.

Kim Taylor Simulated Patient. Kim Taylor’s work as a simulated patient in the field of Clinical Communication Skills training has led to workshops and courses with doctors and healthcare professionals throughout the UK and internationally from Norway to USA, throughout Europe to South Africa. At undergraduate level, Kim works in experiential sessions with medical students at the University of Cambridge and has recently consulted on several projects for the University including simulated patient training and a review of the SP recruitment process. With a special interest in the development of training materials, Kim has devised and delivered simulated patient training in the UK, Portugal, Austria, Russia and Sri Lanka.

Cost – Members £120  Non-members £135