SP Video Competition 2020 Brings Out the Best in IMU’s Simulated Patients

1 September – 30 September: Due to the restrictions imposed by the Malaysian government on gatherings, IMU’s Clinical Skill Simulation Centre (CSSC) was unable to hold its annual gathering for its simulated patients (SP). This has prompted the staff of CSSC to come up with an exciting idea of having a video competition for the SPs as the Covid-19 pandemic has called upon the world to move forward and embrace digital and technology advancements.

The judging was based on the storyline, technical, creativity and quality of the video.

We were amazed that the SP who are mostly baby boomers were not afraid to take up this challenge and a total of 20 SPs participated in this video competition. They met and came up with a storyline about their experience being an SP in IMU. Their videos conveyed strong messages about their passion towards medical education, commitment to contribute to the future of health professions, enjoyment of being SPs, and gratitude to being part of IMU.

^{First Prize Winners of SP Video Competition 2020}

^{Consolation Prize Winners of SP Video Competition 2020}

The annual gatherings for SPs were held since 2016 to show the CSSC’s staff’s appreciation to all the SPs who have contributed to our daily teaching and learning activities. This annual SP gatherings also strengthen the relationship among the SPs as well as between SPs and IMU staff. In 2016 and 2017, SP gathering was held in CSSC where we had a fun time, enjoying some simple team building activities, such as dress up using old newspaper, lucky draw, and an Indian dance performance.

Due to overwhelming requests from the SPs, in 2018, we had our very first SP gathering outdoor at Botanic Garden, Putrajaya. We enjoyed ourselves in the natural environment with some team building activities, photographing and relaxing.

In 2019, we had, for the very first time, a combination of SPs from both Bukit Jalil campus and Seremban campus to have a SP gathering in Port Dickson, Seremban. For this outing, we engaged AnCasa Residences for the team building activities. We were honoured to have the Director of Simulation Centre, University of Adelaide, Adam Montagu to join the SP gathering. He participated in the team building with all the SPs and gave a motivational speech to the SPs. This outing saw us enjoying the cross- culture interaction, relaxing at the beach as well as having a nice traditional Malay meal at AnCasa Residences.

Background on IMU’s SP Programme Simulated patient (SP) is defined as a healthy trained individual who portrays the role of a patient with various health associated conditions. Basically, a SP can be defined as a lay person that simulates to portray a role of patient with health-related conditions based on varying levels of training. The concept of a ‘programmed patient’ was first introduced by neurologist and medical educator Dr Howard S. Barrows from the University of Southern California in 1963. The term standardized patient was then invented by Geoffrey Norman, a Canadian psychometrician in the late 1970s. The concept of SP was recognised as educational tool for teaching and assessment used in healthcare institutions around the world in early1980s. The SP programme was introduced in IMU for teaching and learning activities at least 10 years ago. SPs are mainly used for teaching and simulation activities as well as Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) in the Clinical Skill Simulation Centre (CSSC). SP have been reported to have been used in addressing communication skills, physical examination skills, safe manual handling and personal care assistance, and hybrid simulation for invasive procedures.

Currently, IMU has a pool of more than 100 SPs.

Written by Goh Lay Khim (May), Clinical Skills and Simulation Centre