Simulated particpiants
Who are simulated participants?
Simulated Participants (SPs) is a collective term that is used to refer to Simulated Patients and/or Confederates in the Health Care setting and Simulated Clients in Community and Social Services where they assist with the training and evaluation of learners. An SP is a person who has been coached to accurately and consistently recreate a scenario of a real person in a range of contexts. There are two main types of live simulators. First, simulated (standardized) patients are individuals trained to portray a patient and also to provide feedback to trainees on their performance. Often, simulated patients are recruited from the community and may not necessarily have professional acting experience. Second, confederates are individuals who commonly portray the role of healthcare professionals (Nestel et al, 2017, Simulated participant methodologies: Maintaining humanism in practice).
Simulated Participants provide valuable opportunities for learners to practice skills in an environment that is both safe and supportive to the learning process. By practicing their skills with SPs, learners have the opportunity to develop and refine their interpersonal skills and professionalism in a safe environment without putting real patients or clients at risk.
Professional development
NHET-Sim Workshops and E-Learning Modules
This S5 - Simulated patient methodology introduces the concept of simulated patient (SP) methodology. SPs are real people trained to portray patients and to give feedback to learners on their interactions. That is, SPs help to provide a 'patient' and 'learner' safe environment in which to rehearse 'patient-centredness' and other critical facets of healthcare professionalism.
The module provides participants with an opportunity to explore key concepts such as the scope of practice of SPs, the preparation of SPs for role portrayal and practicalities of the method. Participants will develop an SP role and those attending the workshop enact the role portrayal training approach.
Simulated Patient Network (SPN)
The Simulated Patient Network (SPN) website contains thirteen modules on various aspects of SP methodology.
VSA workshops
VSA offers the following workshops:
- Writing a simulation scenario and simulated patient script for Health Care professionals
- Writing a simulation scenario and simulated client script for Community Services professionals
Contact the VSA Executive Officer at if you would like to run these workshops in your organisation.
Alternatively, they may be offered on our regular calendar of events.