Who am I today?

Today will be my last session at UCD Med School for this academic year, acting as a "Standardized Patient". The last six months has been such a growing experience with my acting. I first heard about the gig through Sally Forcier (who has been so awesome as both my Casting Director and Coach) http://www.forciercasting.com I can still remember the email that Sally sent me at the start of January, letting me know that they were looking for people of specific ethnicities for certain days and the money was pretty decent. There was a contact email and so I sent them my resume and headshot and got a call back about 15 minutes later! I thought I was going to be helping out for a few specific dates but next thing I know I am swept off of my feet into the world of SP's who's motto is "Always be prepared" (translation: Always have a back story).

What exactly is a standardized patient?

Standardized Patients (SP's) are people who have been trained to accurately portray the role of a patient with a specific medical condition. The term "standardized patient" comes from the fact that SP's are specifically trained to not only represent the context of situations or problems, but to also consistently recreate that same situation or problem each time they encounter a student. Consequently, each student will see a patient with the same history and physical findings.

Many graduates of medical schools across the country report that they left school without ever being observed taking a medical history or performing a physical exam on a patient. The ability to perform a competent physical exam and take an accurate, thorough medical history are fundamental clinical skills that all graduates should possess. The Standardized Patient Program's primary objective is to ensure that all graduates possess these essential skills. Stanford currently uses standardized patients in two different capacities:

1) Teaching Sessions. These informal activities allow students to practice their skills and receive feedback on their performance.

2) Formal Examinations in Exam Situations. SP's must not only role-play, they must also fill out a written evaluation of the student's performance. The scores that the students receive on SP exams are passed on to their supervising physician and help inform the physician's final assessment of the student.

-http://ome.stanford.edu/spp.html


I remember filling out a form for the gal who directs the program at UCD Medical School and I came across a question asking if I would be willing to receive a breast exam (my eyes got wide)
I think I wrote something along the lines of, "For me this is an experience to strengthen my acting, was not aware of any physical exam, no." When she was going over my form, I remember her asking why I was opposed to it and I was like, "sheesh, I dunno... first of all, I'd have to be paid a few thousand more!" There was some truth to that, the truth was what I wrote on my form, I really was not aware of physical exams. The false was when I suggested being paid thousands more... You couldn't pay me enough.

I later found out why that question was on there. If someone says yes, it opens up the opportunity to be involved in the physical exam part where you actually go through a pap smear and breast exam to teach the procedure to the student. I'll pass.
When I met some other ladies who did the physical exams I asked them how they brought themselves to do it and some said because they didn't really care and others said it was for the sake of medicine. I'm laughing thinking of other things they could have said.

Over the last six months I have acted as:
-A Sac State student who was sexually assaulted (this was part I)
-The same student who goes for a follow up after she finds out she got pregnant from the incident. This case dealt with the conflict of abortion and catholicism (part II)
-A 28 year old mother of 3 who has had abdominal pain w/abnormal pap result
-Vietnamese woman with facial pain (sinus infection and alcoholism)
-Prostitute with HIV (who continues to "work") You probably wonder why a careless prostitute like this would even bring herself to the doctor? Well, "It burns when I piss" she replies. That was a fun case. Sad but fun.
-A woman Stomach pain / liver damage
-A mother who feels responsible for the drowning of her 3 year old son
-Non-adherent pregnancy (smokes, drinks and does drugs if they are around)


I LOVED this form of acting because it was so organic. It was 20% medical and 80% improv acting and the student took every slight movement as something.
I had to develop my character because you better believe the interviewing med student wouldn't just stick to the medical stuff. I have been asked questions like, "What brought you to the US? What does your diet consist of? Which fast food chains and what do you get? What does your spouse do for work? What do you fight about? What indigenous methods of treatment have you tried?" the list goes on with obscure and off topic questions too.

I remember when we had partners for the first time (mother who felt responsible for the drowning of their 3 year old son). I was paired with an "ex-husband" who also blamed me for the accident. He was supposed to act verbally and emotionally abusive. When we all met up in our conference room before the session there were 6 females and 6 males, naturally we all glance around wondering who we will be paired with. I remember leaning over to a girlfriend and whispering, "Yo L? They better not pair me with that guy over there, it will be SO hard to get into character. I could see myself getting verbally and emotionally abusive with HIM if he got loud with me..." picture Weezer's lead singer, pants tighter than mine (getting LOUD???). So you can figure out who my partner ended up being.

We did this case twice. The second time was better than the first but we REALLY needed that first session to be the best as the Director of Doctoring was in the room. Oh well.

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Seeing these first, second and third year med students is so inspiring. They are much younger than I am and on a road to something I could never even attempt to tackle.