2021 Outstanding Unit

The Skills Assessment and Training Center staff, from left: Sean Devine, Karen Bertke, Gregory Toussaint, Melanie Miller and Jerome Borchers.

The Skills Assessment and Training Center in the Boonshoft School of Medicine received the 2021 Outstanding Unit Award for the staff’s hard work facilitating clinical training for medical students.

The center’s efforts to provide students with essential clinical education, particularly through the height of the pandemic, is highly commendable.

The Skills Assessment and Training Center trains medical students by providing standardized patients, individuals trained to role-play patients with specific symptoms or conditions, to assist in teaching physician-patient communication, clinical and cultural competency and physical examination skills.

The standardized patients, who are members of the Wright State community, are trained by the center’s staff. These patients provide effective and immediate feedback to Boonshoft School of Medicine trainees in a safe and confidential environment for practicing sensitive medical situations.

Valerie Weber, M.D., dean of the Boonshoft School of Medicine, commended the hard work of the center’s staff, especially for rapidly adapting operations during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Skills Assessment and Training Center (SATC) redesigned its training sessions to provide a safe environment for the standardized patients, students and staff.

“During all of these adjustments, the SATC motto was ‘it’s what we do,’ exemplifying a can-do approach that consistently made this unit effective,” Weber said. “I am so proud of the SATC and their accomplishments over the last two years.”

Weber cited the center as an essential reason that Boonshoft School of Medicine graduates are known for their outstanding clinical skills, which they carry with them to their residencies and through their entire professional careers.

Weber highlighted the work of Jerome Borchers, Sean Devine and Melanie Miller, who work directly with standardized patients to coordinate, train and schedule sessions. She also commended the leadership of Gregory Toussaint and Karen Bertke in the Skills Assessment and Training Center.