Simulated Patient exhibition consists of video works created during field trips to the University of Texas medical school. Medical studies use a wide range of simulations to prepare students to meet real patients. Simulated patients are people who have been trained to perform patients in different scenarios so that medical students can practice their clinical and interpersonal skills. The exhibition’s short films examine the tension between standardization and authenticity in the work of simulated patients. On the one hand, they must be able to reproduce the same patient scenario always in the same way so that each student will have the same learning opportunity, but on the other hand be able to improvise depending on the student’s behavior. Ideally a doctor-patient encounter is authentic and empathic, yet the interaction is also a highly structured simulation governed by clinical protocols and checklists. As part of this project, the artist-researcher has been trained in the work of a simulated patient, and she is developing performative ways of exploring how to play both the role of a simulated patient and a medical student.
Kaisu Koski (b. 1975) is a Finnish-born artist-researcher who lives and works in Netherlands. She holds a Doctor of Arts degree from University of Lapland. Kaisu Koski has published articles on arts-based research, medical education and bioethics. Her work has been exhibited in Europe, North America and Asia.
