Introduction: We describe a novel means of experiential learning for clinical pastoral care residents using standardized patient (SP) simulations.
Methods: A prospective cohort study involving 7 clinical pastoral care residents was performed. All residents underwent 2 verbatim SP sessions and 2 simulation sessions. After all sessions, residents completed a self-evaluation. Faculty completed an evaluation and then provided a debriefing session to all residents.
Results: Performance ratings were globally higher on simulated scenarios when compared to the verbatim sessions.
Conclusions: More research in the field of pastoral care is needed to validate the learned professional skills that enhance a comprehensive training program through the use of medical simulation, verbatim reports, and clinical pastoral education (CPE) competencies. Medical simulation provides a promising teaching methodology for the training of CPE residents.
Keywords: CPE; clinical pastoral care; clinical pastoral education; pastoral resident; simulation; standardized patient; verbatim.
© The Author(s) 2015.