The University of Minnesota
pay actors to pretend to be patients over an extended period so that Medical Students can get practical experience without going anywhere near an actual patient. "The pay depends on what you do," (one of the participants describes) "Rheumatology pays the least, about $10 an hour, because all you do is let them show how the joints work on a real person. When I did a scenario for someone with chronic myelogenous leukemia, it was $35 for two hours.
3 comments:
I did something like this in Cardiff a few years ago; they were calling it 'simulated patients', and I showed up, and just had to sit and describe the symptoms of "having a bit of a cold" to a trainee doctor, who would then diagnose and treat (if needed). It was all a bit of a laugh, and I made something like 15quid an hour.
Virtually every medical school does the same thing, often called "Patient instructors" or the like. Sometimes the patient instructors actually have the problem they claim to have, sometimes they're pretending. There are even child patient instructors, to help train pediatricians-to-be.
Reminds me of a Sienfeld episode where Kramer and George were doing the same thing.
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