For a lovely bit of fiction that rings as true as crystal, head over to the Atlantic magazine. A short story by Julie Shumaker, titled Patient, Female explores the world of professional patients, the doctors in training who depend on them (and can intentionally or unintentionally offend them) and the tangled family ties that medicine/healthcare can weave. Well worth the ten minutes it will take you to read it. In my medical training we did, indeed, have female professional patients (and male ones, for the rectal exam – odd, now, to think how the male genitalia wasn’t included…). There were four of us to a patient, and one person in our group asked our female patient why she did it. She told us she’d had a really bad experience with a pelvic exam, and thought this was one way to contribute – to help ensure future women didn’t have a similarly bad experience. Our professional female patient was very good – gave great feedback, was very clear and sharp at times. The sense was that you were learning from someone who knew what she was doing, cared about the outcome, and felt comfortable being in charge – she definitely ranked high as one of my best medical school instructors, even for so short a lesson. The male professional patient was another type altogether – thin, shaky, and now, in retrospect I know he was probably withdrawing. He was more like “can we just get this over with?” There was minimal-to-no learning, no coaching, no feedback, just a lingering sense of violation hanging in the air afterward.
So should there be professional patients? If not, who’s going to be “the first”? Share your own experiences (anonymously only please) in the comments section below.
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Doc Gurley is a Board-certified Internist physician and the only Harvard Medical School graduate to have been awarded a Shoney’s Ten-Step Pin for documented excellence in waitressing. 
I did once let a nurse try to draw blood several times on me at my doctor’s office. She was new and knew the theory fine, just a bit off in the delivery. She was very apologetic, but I figured I was probably more patient than most and everyone needs to practice when they are first learning things (plus, I am sure her hubby whom she volunteered as a pin cushion to practice on later after the third or fourth try probably appreciated her trying it out on someone else first.)
Yes, there should be professional patients to help doctors hone their skills on someone else before trying it for real on me. However, patients should also realize that if they have an interesting case that other doctors may stop by if their ailment is unusual. Hubby severed a thumb tendon in a freak accident and had quite a room full of hand and ortho docs stopping by to watch them piece him back together. It wasn’t something the young docs saw everyday (he joked he should have charged admission….) but his thumb was a learning experience for many for many people that day.
I was a professional male patient at the Univ. of Il School of Medicine. I gave the medical students feedback on hernia exams and digital rectal exams.
I wanted to be able to give feedback to the students because I remembered being nervous and embarassed during my first DRE. The doctor who performed my first exam made jokes about how small his fingers were. It made me feel uncomfortable. I let the med students know that the dialogue they have can either put the patient at ease or make them uncomfortable. As a professional patient, I can critique their technique and give constructive feedback. making them more confident physicians.