Who Uses the CEC?

The center sees over 10,000 visits from health sciences learners and providers annually, including students of Feinberg’s medical, physical therapy, physician assistant and genetic counseling programs, and McGaw resident physicians.  The  center is also available to student and provider groups outside Northwestern for training and assessment events. The center is home to the Harvey cardiac examination simulator as well as a set of task trainers, or manikins, to instruct participants on ear, breast, pelvic, and male urological exams. Our team includes patient instructors who train participants on performing breast, pelvic and male urological exams.

What’s a Standardized Patient?

Most CEC training and assessment involves standardized patients (SPs), actors who are trained to portray patients in a realistic and consistent manner and to reliably assess participants' clinical skills. SPs  are able to provide richly detailed verbal and/or written feedback to help participants improve their communication skills. They are trained to rigorously assess history-taking and physical examination technique during Observed Structured Clinical Exams (OSCEs).  In teaching sessions, SPs can lead communication skills training or can portray a patient while a faculty member teaches a range of skills to a small group of learners.