The room is set up to replicate a doctor s office exam room, complete with exam table and rolling paper sheet. In a room down the hall, Big Brother can observe the class in action through video monitors. Matson and the students sit in an informal semicircle, briefly discussing the lecture from earlier in the day and the test to come. After talking over their questions and concerns about the upcoming exam, it s on to the business at hand. Examining the standardized patient.
Actors pretend to be sick so they can be examined and diagnosed by the students.
They re specially trained to answer all the right questions and display all the right symptoms for various ailments. Not only are the students able to apply the medical and scientific knowledge they ve been learning, but they also get to work on those all-important personal communication skills, an aspect of medical education that has received more attention in the last few years. You put on the white coat, and all of a sudden you see the light at the end of the tunnel. At the end of Diamond s particular tunnel, a career as a pediatrician awaits. I had a great childhood, and I think all kids deserve a healthy start to life.