Part Time - Nursing - Standardized Patient

Penn State University; Harrisburg (Dauphin County); On-site; USD 24,797,000 - 38,573,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive hourly rates

Parking

Flexible hours

Job summary

Penn State University in Harrisburg seeks a Standardized Patient to portray medical scenarios for student learners. You will engage in role-play, provide feedback, and help learners practice interviewing and clinical communication.

You contribute to a realistic learning environment, with opportunities to develop feedback skills, maintain patient realism, and work with diverse cases. The program emphasizes accuracy, empathy, and professional demeanor in a supportive campus setting.

Qualifications

• Excellent communication skills.
• Ability to receive and take direction.
• Motivation to help learners develop interviewing techniques and interpersonal skills.
• Self-awareness and emotional intelligence.
• Ability to portray a variety of patient cases.
• Eye for detail and a great memory.
• Flexibility.

Responsibilities

• Provide individualized feedback – a proxy for patient’s perspective.
• Provide continuity, reproducibility, and realism.
• Respond to learner skill – reinforcing human connection.
• Evaluate skills by checklist completion.
• Provide objectivity and diversity.

Skills

Excellent communication

Direction following

Interviewer skills

Emotional intelligence

Attention to detail

Flexibility

Education

High School Degree or equivalent

Job description

JOB DESCRIPTION AND POSITION REQUIREMENTS

A Standardized Patient (SP) is a healthy individual from the communitywho has been trained to portray, in a consistently reproduciblemanner, a patient/personin amedical and/or communication based situation. SPs receive extensive training regarding clinical communication skills, educational expectations, and components of helpful verbal feedback and other logistics of the environment. They studymaterials abouttheobjectives and goals of the program in addition to a detailed story or "case" to portray, that isreflective ofa real patient history or situation. SPs engage withlearnersin carefully designed "role play" events as though they were a person seeking care in some way.

Because SPs areinvolved in both teaching and testing of a variety of professional learners,training allows SPs to approach the work organically and adjust in order to meet the goals of different tasks.

Standardization is most relevant to formal testing of learnersand refers to the management process ofSP training, event design, andmaterials development. We train SPs to display an appropriate range of behaviors anduse of personal judgement in order to ensuregenuine and unique response to individual student skills.

SPs are able to:

• Provide individualized feedback – a proxy for patient’s perspective.

• Provide continuity, reproducibility, and realism.

• Respond to learner skill – reinforcing human connection.

• Evaluate skills by checklist completion.

• Provide objectivity and diversity.

Working as a Standardized/Simulated Patient (SP) provides a unique opportunity to be involved in shaping the education of tomorrow’s physicians,health and other professionals.

Although not meant to substitute real patients, SPs offer a highly realistic,educational resource give prospective professionals first-hand experience of interacting with people and show the importance of connecting with others through effective communication.

Our SPs are tasked with portraying cases that fit their feedback skills, case portrayal abilities, and demographicrequirementsfor specific cases.Portrayals include a variety of situations, emotions and physical symptoms. Some cases involvecommunication interviews only and some include focused or full physical exams. Other cases may include emotionally charged situations such as domestic abuse or the death of a child.

The SP Program recruits candidates based on the upcoming needs of courses and events.Our goal is to provide learners with the opportunity to practice with SPs who accurately represent real patients; therefore, we recruit all genders,all ages, from various ethnic groups, and with a wide-range of professional experience.

Requirements and Qualifications

Desired Skills

• Excellent communication skills.

• Ability to receive and take direction.

• Motivation to help learners develop interviewing techniques and interpersonal skills.

• Self-awareness and emotional intelligence.

• Ability to realistically portray a variety of patient cases.

• Eye for detail and a great memory.

• Flexibility.

Qualification Requirements

• High School Degree or the equivalent.

• Basic computer skills (e.g. typing and data entry).

• Reliable eMail access.

• Reliable transportation.

• No specific experience level is required, but communication and feedback skills are essential.

Benefits

• Competitive hourly rates, paid trainings, parking, and flexible hours.

• Gain knowledge about the healthcare community, develop accurate and precise feedback skills, and network with other SPs.

• Giving back to the community by helping future and current healthcare professionals develop or improve their skills.

• Personal growth through awareness.

• The right to say "no" - either for scheduling conflicts or case content reasons. Your comfort is important to us.

BACKGROUND CHECKS/CLEARANCES

Employment with the University will require successful completion of background check(s) in accordance with University policies.

CAMPUS SECURITY CRIME STATISTICS

Pursuant to the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act and the Pennsylvania Act of 1988, Penn State publishes a combined Annual Security and Annual Fire Safety Report (ASR). The ASR includes crime statistics and institutional policies concerning campus security, such as those concerning alcohol and drug use, crime prevention, the reporting of crimes, sexual assault, and other matters. The ASR is available for review here.

EEO IS THE LAW

Penn State is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to providing employment opportunities to all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or protected veteran status. If you are unable to use our online application process due to an impairment or disability, please contact 814-865-1473.

Penn State is committed to and accountable for advancing equity, respect, and belonging. We embrace individual uniqueness, as well as a culture of belonging that supports equity initiatives, leverages the educational and institutional benefits of inclusion in society, and provides opportunities for engagement intended to help all members of the community thrive. We value belonging as a core strength and an essential element of the university’s teaching, research, and service mission.

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