Simulated Participant Program

Thank you for your interest in the Yale School of Medicine Teaching and Learning Center’s Simulated Participant (SP) Program. Our Program provides learners at any level with a safe and effective space in which to acquire and practice their skills. We also work with investigators as a resource to promote innovation and scholarship in simulated education research.

The SP Program has expertise in designing and implementing training scenarios as well as case and character development to meet your learning objectives and program goals. We aim to deliver an authentic and effective experience for your learners. Our Simulated Participants are trained specifically for your program and committed to excellence in all they do.

Our website describes who we are and shows how to contact us. We encourage your interest and are available to consult and brainstorm with you about how you might use the SP Program to meet your educational or research goals.

Please let us know about your work in medical education and how we can be of service to you.

Andrés Martin, MD, PhD
Director, Simulated Participant Program
Teaching and Learning Center
Yale School of Medicine

Since 1993, the Standardized Patient Program at the Yale School of Medicine (YSM) has provided learners with a supportive environment in which to engage in realistic simulated encounters with trained health care educators. In Winter 2022, we changed the Program’s name to Simulated Participant (SP). Our new name is an accurate expression of the varied roles our SPs are trained to portray, as well as our commitment to serve the diverse needs of our clients and to advance research in education and training. Our new name is an accurate expression of the varied roles our SPs are trained to portray, as well as our commitment to serve the diverse needs of our clients and to advance research in education and training using human simulation pedagogy. We employ a diverse population of SPs to ensure learners receive training on engaging with the wide range of people they will interact with in practice. The term Simulated Participant reflects contemporary language and is inclusive of every area in which our SPs are trained.

In the early days of our program, we primarily supported the education of medical and physician associate (PA) students. Our Program’s founder, Rick Haesler, MD, would be proud to see its expansion now serving medical, PA, Physician Assistant Online, and nursing students, as well as residents, fellows, and practicing clinicians. Our SPs work across multiple professions, at all levels of training, and in recent years have expanded to include programs outside of health care. We are dedicated to advancing the field of human simulation through medical education, practice, research, and scholarship. The YSM SP Research page on this website contains a list of publications involving the YSM’s SP Program.