Instructor plays patient: an alternative to the case presentation method

This article describes a teaching technique which provides an alternative to the usual case presentation for teaching small groups. In this method the instructor plays a patient, an intern, and a laboratory technician, while a group of students play the role of physicians. Students have the opportunity to deal with a combination of medical and psychosocial problems, demonstrate their ability to interact with patients, and discover that in the total clinical process a correct diagnosis is only one step toward solving the patient's problem. This technique allows the instructor to teach material not found in standard texts, assess students' problem solving efforts, and observe student interaction. Other advantages of this method are that it involves a group of students in "live" interaction with a patient and various members of the healthcare team. The instructor can also observe the thought processes of students during their interaction around a case paralleling what one typically faces in a clinical setting.