At Morehouse School of Medicine Standardized Patients (SP) are local citizens trained to carry out the role of patients by presenting the medical history, imitate physical conditions or diseases, and mental symptoms of selected cases. Standardized patients help students to identify the symptoms and signs of a disease or disorder.  The standardized patient grades the student's performance using a checklist of questions specific to the case and a performance rating scale. SPs receive free parking and are paid a modest hourly rate for their services.

The student has a maximum of 15 minutes to rotate through five morning cases and five afternoon cases. During the 15-minute encounter, the student documents pertinent historical and physical findings, assesses the patient's problem, describes plans for further evaluation and completes a write-up of the findings. The student is rated on his/her ability to gather pertinent patient information, professional skills, communication skills, listening skills, quality of the physical exam and professional behaviors such as compassion, empathy, and cultural diversity sensitivity. 

The student encounter with the SP is videotaped.  A faculty member watches the interview on a monitor in the observation room to evaluate the student's performance.  The preceptor uses both the evaluation of the SP and his/her own evaluation to identify strenghts and weakenesses and recommend areas of improvement.