Programs at the Morchand Center

The Morchand Center offers programs for students and professionals spanning the spectrum of learning levels including:

  • Undergraduate Medical School
  • Residency
  • Secondary Education (Junior High School and High School)
  • Non-Clinical Health Care Professionals (e.g., Front Desk Staff)
  • Learners in Non-Health-Care Fields (e.g., Standardized Client Training for Law Students, Mediation and Dispute Resolution Skills, and Language Learning Assessment)

Learning Domains

The Morchand Center offers a range of assessed medical domains, though most simulated encounters incorporate several domains for maximum effectiveness. Some of the most commonly assessed medical learning domains include the following.

  • History Taking
    Trainees learn how to take a basic history, complete history, focused history (based on a specific complaint), domestic violence history, and sexual history.

  • Physical Exam
    Trainees learn how to conduct a complete physical exam and focused physical exam (based on a specific complaint). They also learn how to examine specific organ systems (i.e., Musculoskeletal).

  • Interpersonal Communication Skills
    This domain encompasses basic communication skills; delivering bad news; communicating with difficult patients; cultural competency; HEADSS assessment; counseling skills (diet, exercise, smoking cessation, safe sex, etc.).

Major Programs Using Standardized Patients

The following are primary programs at the Morchand Center that use SPs.

  • Second-Year Clinical Skills Assessment
    This second-year program evaluates students' history-taking, physical examination, and oral and written communication skills, as well as clinical and ethical reasoning, to assure competency. You take a comprehensive hour-long history and perform a physical examination and receive immediate verbal and written feedback from your "patients" and/or preceptor. Individual retraining is available if necessary.

  • End of Third-Year Assessment
    All third-year medical students in the New York City Consortium take a clinical examination that evaluates physical examination, history-taking, communication, diagnostic reasoning, test selection, and test interpretation skills. We videotape each student in seven patient encounters that encompass a variety of medical challenges. The candidates and their schools receive the completed tapes and test scores for review and recommendations.

  • PGY-1 House Staff Assessment
    The Morchand Center assesses the competency of all incoming American and international medical school graduates (PGY-1). The assessment focuses on clinical skills, communication, and English proficiency as well as on communication issues relevant to residency practice such as anticipatory guidance, advance directives, responsible prescribing, medical error apology, and informed consent.

Other Program Assessment Topics

In addition to our primary assessment requirements, your training may cover:

  • Third-Year Clerkship-Specific SP Programs
  • Delivering Bad News
  • Ethical Dilemmas in Medicine
  • Geriatric Palliative Care
  • Team Training in Geriatric Care
  • Medical Needs of Culturally Diverse Populations
  • Organ Donation Consent Coordinator Approach Training
  • Communicating a Medical Error
  • Obtaining Consent for Autopsy
  • Counseling Patients on Pharmaceutical Advertising
  • Employee Customer Service Training
  • Emergency Procedure Drills
  • End of Life Issues Counseling: Advance Directives/Health Care Proxy/Organ Donation
  • Genetics Counseling
  • Gender Issues