Volunteering in clinical skills teaching
Volunteer and give the gift of time and life experience
Volunteer in our teaching sessions and make a difference that reverberates far beyond the classroom. Our Volunteer Simulated Patient (SP) Program will help you connect with our students in meaningful ways and shape the future of patient care and student training.
Volunteer Simulated Patient (SP) Program
The SP Program is an initiative developed by UNSW Medicine & Health which helps develop our junior students into leading doctors of the future. Volunteering to be an SP provides our young medical students with:
- the opportunity to meet people from all walks of life
- the ability to develop generic communication skills in a clinical setting
- opportunities to develop and maintain respectful interactions with patients
- the chance to build confidence and learn how to maintain an appropriate bedside manner
- the benefit of receiving and responding to constructive feedback from community members.
Volunteers are needed both for campus and online sessions we hold every course of the Phase 1 program.
Online SP Program
The Online Simulated Patient & Assessment (OSPIA) platform provides volunteers the flexibility of assisting from home, at times which suits them. As well as playing the patient, the SP also provides written feedback and assessment after the interview to support student learning. These volunteers are therefore known as SPAs – Simulated Patient Assessors.
The focus is on generic communication skills, not the students’ clinical understanding, so SPAs are not expected to assess on anything clinical in the appointments. All feedback focuses on how each student develops rapport, gathers information and makes the SPA feel listened to as a ‘patient’.
Registered SPAs are contacted about when appointments are required during a course. A variety of scenario options are provided based on the material the students are studying at the time.
Some of our SPAs are interstate so there are no boundaries for volunteering online.
Bumps n Bundles
Once a year, we also have ‘Bumps n’ Bundles’ sessions where pregnant women and mothers with young children can share their experiences with our students. These sessions take place online.
'Skin Sessions'
We partner with the Australian College of Make-Up and Special Effects for our 'Skin Sessions'.
Make-up artists apply fake skin lesions to our SPs. The medical students practice general consultation skills, describing the skin problem to the patient in easy-to-understand language.
