Standardized Patients' Perspectives on Bias in Student Encounters

Standardized patient (SP) encounters are widely used in health professional education to evaluate trainees' clinical skills. Prior literature suggests that bias can influence the evaluations of student learners in SP-student encounters. Understanding how SPs perceive bias in their work and how they view their role in mitigating or perpetuating bias in simulation is an important first step in addressing bias in the SP-student encounter.

Researchers designed a qualitative interview study and conducted 16 semistructured interviews with SPs at the University of California, San Francisco Kanbar Simulation Center from July through September of 2020. Participants were selected using purposive sampling. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed by researchers using inductive thematic analysis. Researchers met iteratively to reconcile codes and identify themes.

SPs identified bias occurring in multiple directions: SP-to-student, student-to-SP, student-to-character, and SP-to-character. SPs were hesitant to label their own biases and instead used words such as "comfort" or "preference." SPs reported little bias from students, because students were being evaluated and therefore behaving carefully. Additionally, SPs perceived bias in the implementation of health care simulation, which manifests as underrepresentation of certain groups amongst actors and character descriptions. Most SPs felt that they should play a role in mitigating bias in SP-student encounters, including addressing bias that occurs, challenging stereotypes, teaching about cultural differences, and/or being conscious of bias in their assessments of learners.

In the SP-student encounter, bias can occur on many levels and between many individuals, including between the SP and the character they are portraying. Identifying the areas in which bias can exist can help simulation educators mitigate bias.