Simulated Participant Programme (SiPP)

Welcome to the Simulated Participant Programme (SiPP) in the College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, NUI Galway.

The School of Medicine has a long tradition of preparing healthcare practitioners to be the best in their field, across programmes at undergraduate, postgraduate and postdoctoral levels. We work closely with our Health Service Executive (HSE) clinical partners to provide programmes to best prepare learners to meet the challenges of every evolving healthcare environment and to deliver patient-centred care. Engaging with patients and healthcare consumers is an important pillar in our programmes. Our SiPP is a key component of this engagement process. 

Our mission:  To facilitate student learning in a safe & controlled environment such that our students can develop into healthcare professionals who deliver patient-focused care.

What is a Simulated Participant?

A Simulated Participant (SP) is a person who has been carefully trained to simulate and play the part of an actual patient or a healthcare provider in a healthcare learning, training or assessment session. They play a critical role in preparing our students for practice. We value the contribution of Simulated Participants to our healthcare programmes, to both support our learners to deliver patient-centred care and to help us develop our curriculum.

Role of the Simulated Participant

The Simulated Participant supports the education of student doctors and healthcare students’ by helping them to practice the skills of history taking, physical examination, and communication in a simulated (not real) and safe setting. The SP role is also to contribute to the learning experience by providing feedback to the learner from a patient’s perspective.

Who does this role suit?

This role of a Simulated Participant would suit a person with a flexible schedule, who has an interest in role-play and teaching healthcare students in a supportive and nurturing environment. Simulated Participants can come from any background and previous training or acting experience are not requirements as full training will be provided by the programme. We have a need for Simulated Participants in a variety of locations such as Letterkenny, Castlebar, Sligo, Galway city & Ballinasloe

Key attributes of Simulated Participants on this programme include

good communication skills
reliability
ability to take direction
conscientiousness
a professional manner
ability to know their limitations (only accept roles they are comfortable portraying)

Key responsibilities of a Simulated Participant include:

To memorise and recall information in order to accurately portray a case as per the script provided,
To remain in role for the duration of an encounter

To provide feedback to students as and when advised
To seek and engage in feedback for their own improvement,
To adhere to the programme policies and procedures

To date most of our Simulated participants have come from 3 broad groups:

 Members of the local community or University/Hospital. 
Patients attending local affiliated hospitals or primary care services. 
 Actors (often required for more complex/sensitive cases, such as portraying more distressed emotional states)

Resources for Existing SPs

NUI Galway, College of Medicine Nursing and Health Sciences Simulated Participan

After Becoming and SP What Happens Next

SSH Healthcare Simulation Dictionary

Where do these events take place and how often?

Education and training typically take place in the School of Medicine medical academies/campuses which are attached to University Hospitals in Galway, Mayo, Sligo and Letterkenny. 

Most Simulated Participants are required for occasional day work mainly in the months of March, April, May and August. As we grow our programme we hope to include more SP’s in teaching events so some work throughout the academic year (September-November, Jan-May) may also occur on an ad hoc basis