Teenagers reaching the world at campus

PIEPS Program

We have developed the Patients Involved in the Education of Health Professionals [French acronym PIEPS] training program to promote the involvement of many types of patients in medical education.

There are currently three branches of the PIEPS program:

  1. Simulated patients simulate a person with an illness described in the simulation scenario by acting out the clinical aspect of this illness and the psychosocial aspect experienced by the patient. They must be able to improvise in order to make the interview more authentic. They are usually involved in clinical and experiential learning courses, whether in medicine, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, etc.

  2. Standardized patients are trained to participate in certification examinations such as the OSCE (Objective Structured Clinical Examination) that students must pass each year. They simulate a person with an illness, but must act in a standardized manner. They are usually trained by the Ottawa Exam Centre and participate in health professional examinations.

  3. Real patients live with a real health problem. They share their experiences of the illness with students to help sensitize them to the issue and they work in collaboration with faculty. They can also teach strategies for developing clinical skills adapted specifically to the illness.

Benefits of being a PIEPS?

  • Gain a sense of purpose by:

    • contributing to the progress of science

    • contributing to our society

    • participating in the training of future physicians

    • helping students understand the importance of the physician’s empathy for the patient

  • Belong to a community that values:

    • learning by and with others

    • developing the skills needed by future health professionals

    • sharing experiences

    • model-based learning

    • building trust and respect

  • Learn new information about:

    • medicine

    • empathy

Become a PIEPS - Available courses

PIEPS 101: "Basic Training: The Role of PIEPS, the Medical Education Environment

Upon completion of this workshop, the participant will be able to:

  • Understand the concept of IHPEs
  • Know the context of medical education
  • Differentiate between IHPEs and their roles
  • Have notions of professionalism in an educational context

Target audience: French-speaking simulated patients working in a simulated clinic or in a simulation context for the learning of healthcare professionals

Self-learning module: PIEPS | Affaires Francophone

PIEPS 102: Feeling Feedback in the Simulated Clinic

Upon completion of this interactive workshop, the participant will be able to:

  • Define Sentiment Feedback (what)
  • Practice feeling feedback (how)

Target audience: French-speaking simulated patients working in a simulated clinic or in a simulation context for the learning of healthcare professionals

PIEPS 103: The Work of a Simulated Patient Interpreter

Upon completion of this interactive workshop, the participant will be able to:

  • Understand the principles of role-playing learning

  • Facilitate scenario learning

  • Develop role-playing skills

Target audience: French-speaking simulated patients working in a simulated clinic or in a simulation context for the learning of healthcare professionals

PIEPS 104: The Simulated Patient Posture for Physical Exams

Upon completion of this interactive workshop, the participant will be able to:

  • Adopt a teaching posture during a physical exam

  • Understand the basics of constructive feedback

Target audience: French-speaking simulated patients involved in courses involving physical exams in the ACD or simulated clinic, or in simulation settings with simulated patients for healthcare professionals to learn

PIEPS 203: Character Interpretation for Simulated Clinical Situations

At the end of this interactive workshop, the participant will be able to:

  • Define sensitive medical situations
  • Understand the challenges of interpretation in these situations

Target audience: Workshop recommended for those participating in simulated clinical reasoning sessions

PIEPS 204: Character Interpretation for Simulated Clinical Situations

At the end of this interactive workshop, the participant will be able to:

  • Understand the differences in interpretation of a scenario by a simulated patient and a standardized patient.
  • Understand the difference between a learning context (simulated clinic) and an evaluation context (OSCE).
  • Identify the differences between open-ended and closed-ended questions.
  • Discuss the challenges and needs of simulated patients in a learning context.

Target audience: All those participating in the simulated clinic sessions of the Francophone section.

PIEPS 301: Patient Partner Training: From Story to Learning

At the end of this interactive workshop, the participant will be able to:

  • Identify what experiential knowledge of illness is
  • Communicate this experiential knowledge based on the audience and the students' learning objectives
  • Use the principles of reflective practice to guide their intervention

Prerequisites: Be a person living with a chronic illness or living with someone with a chronic illness, and have been selected following a recruitment interview. PIEPS 101 training is mandatory.

Target audience: French-speaking patient partners involved in the learning of healthcare professionals. 

PIEPS 302: Writing Simulation Scenarios by Patient Partners

At the end of this interactive workshop, the participant will be able to:

  • Understand the educational challenges of a simulation
  • Collaboratively write a scenario about a chronic illness they have experienced

Prerequisites: Be a person living with a chronic illness or a loved one of such a person and have been selected following a recruitment interview. PIEPS 101 training is mandatory.

Target audience: French-speaking patient partners involved in the training of healthcare professionals

What they’re saying

“I have the satisfaction of making a difference, however small, in the training of our future doctors. I feel part of a learning process; it’s a great experience, and so rewarding. I consider the simulated patient role to be very important.” Gladys

“Feedback given by simulated patients on their feelings is essential to medical students’ learning. This experience teaches students how to communicate with patients in an emphatic and realistic way, while giving them confidence in their learning abilities.” Mikaela

“The simulated clinic is really a learning environment…. As a simulated patient, it’s definitely not standardized at all, but each student had the opportunity to have a case with realistic interaction and the fact that each patient is a little different in their interpretation doesn’t matter. The goal was achieved. I see the importance of these sessions for students and I think it’s important to give them as much feedback as possible…. I think the PIEPS sessions you offer are excellent for new simulated patients like me, but also a great reminder for patients with more experience. Sometimes we may have forgotten the importance or the purpose of these sessions.” Elena

This program is an initiative of Francophone Affairs of the University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine.

To learn more about PIEPS, watch the YouTube video.

The PIEPS project team

Dr. Isabelle BURNIER holds a doctorate in medicine from the University of Grenoble in France, as well as a master's degree in education with a specialization in teaching health professionals from the University of Ottawa. She is the Director of Clinical Skills and Director of the Pre-Externship Francophone Stream at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine. She has been responsible for simulated clinics for over 10 years.

She has led several research projects on the training needs of simulated patients and real patients. She conducts training workshops for simulated patients, as well as for educators and healthcare professionals who want to develop learning through simulation with simulated patients.