Standardized Patients for Korean Psychiatric Nursing Student Simulations

Changes in the health care system driven by demands for expert health care services have fueled the need for quality psychiatric nursing education that uses simulated learning with standardized patients. Training standardized patients (SPs) with psychiatric disorders is not as simple as training those with other disorders, one challenge being the difficulty of portraying abstract psychiatric symptoms in a “standardized” fashion. This article describes the elements and processes behind training psychiatric SPs for a simulated psychiatric nursing practicum. The backgrounds of SPs, type of scenarios, and training procedures for SPs are described. Essential attributes for an SP include an ability to adopt expected roles, an interest in education, an ability to stay in character, and flexible work availability. Structured training scenarios enhanced the reality of the simulation and standardized role plays.