Help us train caring physicians.
Patient volunteers of all ages–from children to senior adults–are needed to help our first year medical students understand illness from the patient’s perspective. To be eligible for The Patient as Teachers Project,community members must:
- have a continuing illness that affects your life
- be willing to talk freely with medical students about your illness and treatments
- have family members, and/or friends who are willing to share what your illness has meant to their lives
- live within 30 minutes driving time from Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center
All information you share will be kept confidential.
Our medical students maintain strict confidentiality about their patients and their families. While students will give reports to faculty and groups of other students about what they learned, students will only use initials when referring to their patients. Faculty and students who hear these reports also maintain strict confidentiality.
What to expect if you participate in the Patient as Teachers Project?
You will be contacted by two first-year medical students who will arrange to come to your home and talk to you for about one hour. Visits take place approximately once every other month between September and May.
- Medical students will talk with you about your illness and related issues. Family members are welcome to be present.
- During at least one visit, students will need to talk with family membersĀ and/or friends about what your illness has meant to their lives.
- Students will have access to your medical records and may interview your professional health care providers.
What will NOT happen if you participate in The Patient as Teachers Project?
- Students will not perform a physical examination, offer any medical advice, or involve themselves in any way in your medical care.
- You will not be charged or paid for participation in The Patient as Teachers Project.
If you are interested in helping Penn State College of Medicine students understand your experience with illness please contact:
Tamika Washington
The Patient as Teachers Project Coordinator
Penn State College of Medicine
The Office of Medical Education, H176
P.O. Box 850
Hershey, PA 17033-0850
phone: Tel (717) 531-0003, ext. 289262
email: twashington4@pennstatehealth.psu.edu
Monday – Friday 8 a.m.- 5 p.m.