S T A N F O R D M E D I C I N E

Volume 16 Number 4, SUMMER 1999

STANFORD
MEDICINE,
published quarterly by Stanford University Medical Center, aims to keep readers informed about the education, research, clinical care and other goings on at the Medical Center.

 

For the special section for Alumni, click on the link below:
STANFORD
MD
 

 

playing sick

Performing the role of a patient,

with a doctor-in-training

as co-star.

Related stories:
Staged Encounters

SIMULATING REALISTIC DISEASE SYMPTOMS CAN BE DEMANDING WORK FOR THOSE WHO PLAY PATIENTS BUT THE ACTORS INVOLVED FIND THE CHALLENGE REWARDING.

Jerry Dixon, a four-year veteran standardized patient, chooses the stroke patient as the most interesting character he has played. The role demands mastery of physical characteristics typical of a stroke patient such as sluggish eye movements and difficulties with speech. "It requires a lot of physical discipline," he says. "Doing a stroke patient for instance, you can't suddenly smile. Your audience is a single person and you must maintain your character for half an hour."

Celia Maurice has been playing standardized patients for two years and the domestic abuse case that she portrayed in today's class is her favorite. "I feel that it's worthwhile," she said prior to the class, while applying her pink, yellow and blue bruise makeup. "It gives [the students] an opportunity to ask more awkward questions. And part of what we're doing is giving them the opportunity to ask them correctly," she says. SM