Patients as Educators
' Patients as Educators ' are real patients who have long term health problems who assist the School of Medicine with student classroom teaching and assessments . This includes both medical students and students on the Physician Associate ( PA ) Course . Patient involvement is important when students are learning how to physically examine patients and for students to practice their communication skills during telephone and video calls , as well as making our assessments a robust and authentic test of students ' performance . Patients help us on a voluntary basis and are supported by the dedicated Patients as Educators Team who recruit , book , brief them , provide refreshments and assist with transport arrangements . From our point of view , it is always a privilege to work with such lovely people who so generously give their time to support our educational programmes . Patients enjoy taking part , find the role interesting and rewarding , getting satisfaction from giving back to the NHS and through helping train the next generation of health care professionals .