[Integration of simulated patients into the study of human medicine in Germany]

Simulated patients (SPs) internationally teach and assess medical students. SPs are healthy lay people who portray the role of a patient, including symptoms and personality. In Germany the first SP programs were introduced in between 1998 and 2000. This study describes the implementation of SP programs at German medical schools.

In 2004 we used two separate questionnaires to collect data on the existence, time of implementation and planning of an SP program, number of SPs used, organisational structure, teaching and assessment with SPs, timing of the use of SPs within the curriculum, feedback during teaching sessions and quality management tools for such SP programs.

30 out of 36 medical schools were included in the study (83%). The majority of medical schools used SPs for training in communication skills and also for the assessment of competence. Because of the newness of SP programs in Germany, compared with such programs in Anglo-American countries, SP programs have only rarely been used in Germany in postgraduate training and continuing medical education. Compared to other countries German medical schools have spent few resources on the professional training of SPs and rarely use SP trainers to run these-programs.

For quality assurance medical schools have to support SP-programs adequately. SP trainers should be introduced into German SP programs to release medical doctors from SP training and organisational tasks. Networking, as carried out internationally, should be introduced to foster collaborative research and effectively use limited resources.