The clinical teacher
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The clinical teacher · Aug 2016
Comparative StudySimulated patients versus manikins in acute-care scenarios.
Manikins and simulated patients (SPs) are commonly used in health care education and assessment. SPs appear to offer a more realistic experience for learners than 'plastic' manikins, and might be expected to engender interactions that approximate real clinical practice more closely. The analyses of linguistic patterns and touch are methodologies that could be used to explore this hypothesis. Our research aims were: (1) to compare verbal interactions and the use of procedural touch by health care workers (HCWs) in scenarios with SPs and with manikins; and (2) to evaluate the methodologies used to inform a large-scale study. ⋯ These methodologies offer opportunities for further research projects studying interactions with SPs, manikins and real clinical practice.