How to become a standardized patient
The human being behind the standardized patient
Karen Gardstrom, a 68-year-old resident of Ann Arbor, has worked as a standardized patient with UM for the past 10 years. She was inspired to join the program by her daughter, who also served as a standardized patient a few years ago.
“Our daughter Christina worked as an SP as a graduate student at UM,” Gardstrom said. “They often recruit younger people for cases that require them. She really enjoyed her experience with the program because in certain cases she was also able to use her second language, Spanish.”
Gardstrom’s other daughter, Erika, was a medical student at Ohio State University when she decided to join the UM Standardized Patient Program. There, her daughter often spoke about her encounters with standardized patients and how valuable they were.
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“After thinking about how wonderful this program has been for my daughters and how beneficial it will be for our future healthcare providers, I decided to kind of pass it on and help medical students here at UM,” Gardstrom said. “And even after all this time, I still feel like I’m doing a significant service to our UM medical students by helping them become the best doctors they can be. As a standardized patient, we assess students on 20 different communication skills ranging from getting a patient’s perspective to involving the patient in their own healthcare delivery. That part of the role can be really powerful.”
Gardstrom adds that as a standardized patient, she is confident that she is “very well trained” and that she enjoys how the program is designed and how it works.
“There are four different patient educators who spend a lot of time educating us patients on individual cases,” she said. “They educate us on the facts of the specific cases, and we’re expected to present patients in those situations in a standardized way. Each student then receives a fair and equitable assessment.”
Gardstrom says she only works “very part-time,” which is handy for her lifestyle.
“I appreciate the flexibility this job gives me,” she said. “It’s a great option for retirees, students and/or people who have more than one job. It’s just a fulfilling way of helping other people and it’s extremely rewarding.”