Using a standardized family to teach clinical skills to medical students

The use of standardized patients has been an accepted instructional methodology in medical education for many years. A logical evolution of this methodology is the creation of a standardized patient family.

This article describes one such standardized family, the Jones family, and how the family is used to teach interpersonal skills, interviewing, communication, counseling, and history-taking skills to medical students.

After several years of using the Jones family, we have found that more comprehensive scripts need to be developed, that recruitment and retention of standardized patients for a year long program does not seem to be a problem, and that the value added by a standardized family greatly enhances the educational experience for students. A standardized family seems a logical educational vehicle for teaching continuity of care, confidentiality, contextual placement of medical information within family dynamics, cultural beliefs, community orientation, and generalism.

A standardized family is a viable instructional methodology that deserves greater use in medical education.