By Karen Szauter, MD, University of Texas Medical Branch
Article:
Brooke Freeman Dinsmore, Carrie Bohnert, Jill E Preminger Standardized Patients in Audiology: A Proposal for a New Method of Evaluating Clinical Competence J Am Acad Audiol 2013; 24:372-393
Article format: review
The authors of this paper (BFD, JEP) are members of the Department of Audiology at the University of Louisville in Kentucky. Ms Bohnert is an SP educator in the Standardized Patient Program at the University of Louisville and an active member of ASPE.
The recent article introduces standardized patient methodology to practitioners and educators in the field of audiology. The authors suggest, based on the proven success of SPs to teaching and assessment activities related to clinical skills, that educators in Doctorate of Audiology (AuD) programs should consider introducing SPs into their curricula. The authors provide background on SP applications including a brief history of SPs, and the pros and cons of employing SPs to teaching and assessment. They then suggest that SPs have a potential benefit to AuD students.
The article provides many practical tips including technical steps for case development. The article includes a sample case, formatted in a very useful example of a case template, and an example of an interpersonal checklist. Including this information is adds great value to the article as it provides a tangible example of both training and evaluation materials that can be used for SP preparation and learner assessment.
Overall this article provides a nice review of foundational concepts related to SP methodology and provides practical applications to the field of AuD. The reference list includes many of the important articles related to our field. The article does a very good job of building a case for the relatively new application of SPs in Audiology.
ASPE News 
Leave a Reply