The Standardized Patient and Assessment Center (S-PAC) hosts 16 patient exam rooms, an examination demonstration room and a medium-sized classroom. Students and faculty at the Netter School of Medicine utilize the space for experiential teaching and learning as well as the assessment of clinical skills, ultrasound training and basic procedural training.
Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine Standardized Patient and Assessment Center
The Standardized Patient and Assessment Center (S-PAC) simulates a real-world clinical learning environment. In addition to medical students, the space is open to students within our School of Nursing and School of Health Sciences as well as external clients.
Sharpen your skills in a simulated environment
Medical students preform an exam on a standardized patient in one of the exam rooms within the Standardized Patient and Assessment Center.
Prepare for genuine clinical experiences
A wide variety of curricular elements, scenarios and scripts are used in any of the following modalities for the purposes of teaching as well as formative and summative assessments.
Standardized patient encounters provide a safe environment for learners to practice and simulate skills such as recording history and performing physical and mental exams. Students also form advanced communication skills as they practice delivering bad news, screening for intimate partner violence and navigating complex behavioral health encounters.
Live-action simulations encompass events where standardized patients portray a patient in a classroom and/or workshop setting with a group of students and faculty. These events are largely designed for learners to work on obtaining new skills within the domain of interviewing, communicating, and medical decision-making. Standardized patients may be provided a regular script or a character/situation summary to improvise.
Objective Structured Clinical Exam (OSCE) cases are built in collaboration with the specific curricular needs of the program. The standardized patients’ roles during an OSCE are to memorize a script, accurately portray the script and complete an assessment of the learner in a timed or untimed format. A central component of the OSCE is the ability of the standardized patient and/or the faculty member to provide feedback to the learner based on a checklist that is constructed by the faculty requiring the assessment as well as standardized patient observations made in the encounter.
The OSCE can be used to assess multiple dimensions of learner performance including history taking, physical examination, communication, procedural skills, problem solving and decision-making.
Utilizing recording and assessment capability available through the institutional CAE/Learning Space software, learners are provided with video feedback as well as numerical data to support competency-based feedback on their OSCE performance.
Hybrid simulations are experiences involving the use of standardized patients to augment high-fidelity manikin encounters with a task trainer simulator. Events include rapid response and cardiac arrest simulations as well as telehealth encounters. Interprofessional opportunities for learning are available in the School of Nursing and the School of Health Sciences.
Task trainers are utilized by faculty and learners to train or practice a specific skill such as physical exam (ear/eye simulations, heart/lung simulations, rectal/pelvic models) as well as procedures such as endotracheal intubation, central venous line placement, suturing, IV insertions, lumbar punctures, ABG, trainers for incision and drainage of abscesses and more.
A portable Butterfly IQ+, Philips Lumify and various other ultrasound equipment are available for training purposes. Students can learn the basics of point of care ultrasound with model patients. Interprofessional opportunities for learning are available with assistance from the diagnostic medical sonography teaching program.
Interact with true-to-life patients and providers
General Standardized Patient: These individuals are part-time temporary employees of Quinnipiac who are trained to play the roles of patients, family members, healthcare providers or others in a consistent fashion for the purposes of clinical simulation. There are currently 100 standarized patients employed by Quinnipiac who work in various capacities to allow participants to practice history taking skills, physical exam skills communication skills and more.
Gynecologic Teaching Associates: These individuals are trained for standardized gynecological exam training sessions for both breast and pelvic exams. Experiential learning and teaching sessions for students include patient-centered communication skills, as well as immediate feedback from the associate.
Urologic Teaching Associates: These individuals are trained for standardized rogenital exam training session for male genitals (lymph nodes, penis, scrotum, testicles), hernia exam and prostate exam. Experiential learning and teaching sessions for students include patient-centered communication skills, as well as immediate feedback from the associate.
Our Team
Victoria Lynn Ortiz-Neal
Administrative Assistant to the School of Medicine
Connect with the S-PAC
Become a Patient
For information about becoming a standardized patient or about planning a standardized patient education event, please email Gabby Ceccolini, director of the standardized patient and assessment center.
Utilize the Facility
The S-PAC is not currently used for actual patient care or clinical research. Requests for use must be submitted ahead of the start of each semester.
Contact the School of Medicine
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