Nursing - Standardized Patient

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• CURRENT PENN STATE EMPLOYEE (faculty, staff, technical service, or student), please login to Workday to complete the internal application process. Please do not apply here, apply internally through Workday.

• CURRENT PENN STATE STUDENT (not employed previously at the university) and seeking employment with Penn State, please login to Workday to complete the student application process. Please do not apply here, apply internally through Workday.

• If you are NOT a current employee or student, please click “Apply” and complete the application process for external applicants.

Approval of remote and hybrid work is not guaranteed regardless of work location. For additional information on remote work at Penn State, see Notice to Out of State Applicants.

JOB DESCRIPTION AND POSITION REQUIREMENTS

A Standardized Patient (SP) is a healthy individual from the community who has been trained to portray, in a consistently reproducible manner, a patient/person in a medical and/or communication based situation. SPs receive extensive training regarding clinical communication skills, educational expectations, and components of helpful verbal feedback and other logistics of the environment. They study materials about the objectives and goals of the program in addition to a detailed story or "case" to portray, that is reflective of a real patient history or situation. SPs engage with learners in carefully designed "role play" events as though they were a person seeking care in some way. 

Because SPs are involved in both teaching and testing of a variety of professional learners, training allows SPs to approach the work organically and adjust in order to meet the goals of different tasks.

Standardization is most relevant to formal testing of learners and refers to the management process of SP training, event design, and materials development. We train SPs to display an appropriate range of behaviors and use of personal judgement in order to ensure genuine and unique response to individual student skills.  

SPs are able to:

• Provide individualized feedback – a proxy for patient’s perspective.

• Provide continuity, reproducibility, and realism.

• Respond to learner skill – reinforcing human connection.

• Evaluate skills by checklist completion.

• Provide objectivity and diversity.

Working as a Standardized/Simulated Patient (SP) provides a unique opportunity to be involved in shaping the education of tomorrow’s physicians, health and other professionals. 

Although not meant to substitute real patients, SPs offer a highly realistic, educational resource give prospective professionals first-hand experience of interacting with people and show the importance of connecting with others through effective communication. 

Our SPs are tasked with portraying cases that fit their feedback skills, case portrayal abilities, and demographic requirements for specific cases. Portrayals include a variety of situations, emotions and physical symptoms. Some cases involve communication interviews only and some include focused or full physical exams. Other cases may include emotionally charged situations such as domestic abuse or the death of a child.

The SP Program recruits candidates based on the upcoming needs of courses and events. Our goal is to provide learners with the opportunity to practice with SPs who accurately represent real patients; therefore, we recruit all genders, all ages, from various ethnic groups, and with a wide-range of professional experience.

Requirements and Qualifications

Desired Skills

• Excellent communication skills.

• Ability to receive and take direction.

• Motivation to help learners develop interviewing techniques and interpersonal skills.

• Self-awareness and emotional intelligence.

• Ability to realistically portray a variety of patient cases.

• Eye for detail and a great memory.

• Flexibility.

Qualification Requirements

• High School Degree or the equivalent.

• Basic computer skills (e.g. typing and data entry).

• Reliable eMail access.

• Reliable transportation.

• No specific experience level is required, but communication and feedback skills are essential.

Benefits

• Competitive hourly rates, paid trainings, parking, and flexible hours.

• Gain knowledge about the healthcare community, develop accurate and precise feedback skills, and network with other SPs.

• Giving back to the community by helping future and current healthcare professionals develop or improve their skills.

• Personal growth through awareness.

• The right to say "no" - either for scheduling conflicts or case content reasons. Your comfort is important to us.

BACKGROUND CHECKS/CLEARANCES

Employment with the University will require successful completion of background check(s) in accordance with University policies.

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Penn State is committed to and accountable for advancing equity, respect, and belonging. We embrace individual uniqueness, as well as a culture of belonging that supports equity initiatives, leverages the educational and institutional benefits of inclusion in society, and provides opportunities for engagement intended to help all members of the community thrive. We value belonging as a core strength and an essential element of the university’s teaching, research, and service mission.

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