A Pilot Curriculum to Integrate Standardized Patient Simulation into Clinical Pastoral Education.

Abstract

We describe a novel means of experiential learning for clinical pastoral care residents using standardized patient (SP) simulations. A prospective cohort study involving 7 clinical pastoral care residents was performed. All residents underwent 2 verbatim SP sessions and 2 simulation sessions. After all sessions, residents completed a self-evaluation. Faculty completed an evaluation and then provided a debriefing session to all residents. Performance ratings were globally higher on simulated scenarios when compared to the verbatim sessions. More research in the field of pastoral care is needed to validate the learned professional skills that enhance a comprehensive training program through the use of medical simulation, verbatim reports, and clinical pastoral education (CPE) competencies. Medical simulation provides a promising teaching methodology for the training of CPE residents.