Discussion
TCM
In medical education, given patient safety and rights, patients as a core element in actual clinical settings are regularly absent from pre-clinical training. SPs as salaried persons who portray patients’ symptoms and signs consistently have emerged with the demand. [This study showed substantial differences between SSP-TCM trainees and TM trainees and between OSP-TCM trainees and TM trainees for evaluation parameters in the systematic knowledge test and clinical competence examination. The results corresponded to those of our previous occupational SP program, suggesting that TCM-tailored SP training was more effective than traditional didactic training. [In this study, SSP-TCMs were selected from among graduate students majoring in internal TCM medicine and met the general accuracy and consistency requirements for SSPs after brief training. In comparison to OSPs, SSPs showed faster acceptance, shorter training time, and lower training difficulty. [Regarding feedback on curriculum, SSP-TCM trainees demonstrated significantly improved proficiency in inquiry skills and TCM thinking, especially physician-patient communication skills, proficiency in recording TCM medical history, the quality of medical records, and confidence in handling clinical work. As students, SSP-TCMs participated in the curricular training in a more interactive education format with specific objectives and valued the experience of portraying patients. They also acquired empathy from the perspective of patients. [As an emerging medical education tool, SP combined with feedback and reflection has formative benefits for improvement in clinical competence among medical trainees [