Michael John Marks - SP (Simulated Patient)

I’ve been working at MSR since 2008. During this time I’ve played an endless variety of challenging patients. From violent narcotics to yeshiva students with sexually transmitted diseases, I found myself exposed not only to the complex world that doctors live in, but also to communication skills. It surprised me at first to see how the use of different words and a slightly different approach can have such an impact on our interaction and dialogue. This is something that we constantly deal with at MSR, as throughout the years I have come across many med students, doctors and nurses who all have different approaches. Many of the ethical/ moral dilemmas and sometimes even “everyday conflicts”, stayed with me and kept me thinking about them, long after the encounter. Similarly, I have met many doctors that told me how they took the experience and the feedback with them into their practice as an important tool to improve communication with patients.

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