Welcome to the Professional Development Center

The Professional Development Center provides an important setting for medical student and physician assessment and curricular evaluation.

The Center utilizes Standardized Patients to not only teach and assess clinical skills, but also the interpersonal skills and behaviors associated with being a physician. Such behaviors include demonstrating compassion and sensitivity in the care of patients, demonstrating respect for a patient’s privacy, dignity and autonomy, demonstrating honesty and integrity in all interactions, and displaying responsibility and trustworthiness in the execution of all duties.

Students are taught to accept criticism and to understand the limitations of their own knowledge and skills. Standardized Patients have also been used to help teach medical students, residents and practicing physicians how to deal with difficult patient problems such as depression, alcoholism, and non-compliance.