In the past year, Jeanne Raitt has had many roles while working with medical students at the KU School of Medicine–Wichita.

She's been the mom of a 5-year-old son with a serious illness, a patient angling for prescription pain medication, and the daughter of a woman with Alzheimer's.

Raitt is among 85 Wichitans who participate in the school's standardized patient program. She and others in the program have been trained by staff at the Wichita campus' standardized patient center to role-play patients or family members. The sessions enable students to hone their skills in taking medical histories, communication, interpersonal relationships, and their ability to handle sensitive issues and embarrassing situations.

"We provide a safe environment for students to practice their clinical skills before they see actual patients," explains Jennifer Brantley, assistant director of the standardized patient center.

Take the case of 55-year-old Ellen Bumphries, a college professor who is being seen for abdominal pain. It's one of the program's many cases that go beyond just an exam and diagnosis, according to Stephen Charles, the center's administrative director.

During small group sessions after the exam - which has been videotaped and reviewed by the school's faculty - students and professors talk about the case and discuss how to treat someone like Ellen, who is educated, well-known in the community, and who isn't willing to adhere to medical recommendations.

"This is a great way to give medical students hands-on learning and training," says Raitt. "I love the variety of the cases, learning about the real things people suffer through, watching how students learn medical protocol, and seeing how willing they are to accept feedback from us."

Retired after 30 years as a manager and trainer for AT&T, Raitt understands the importance of communication skills.

"Plus, it's a bonus to get a little checkup now and then," says Raitt, who has spent 10 to 15 hours a month as a standardized patient in the last year. Three first-year students recently performed their first abdominal exams with Raitt as their patient.

"I can see your aorta pulsate," says Dyllan Landry. During an earlier faculty demonstration, students had been told to watch for that. Landry also explains where Raitt might feel pain if she were actually suffering from an appendicitis or gall bladder attack.

For William Burney and Natashia Gafford, being a standardized patient has provided them with reassurance that future doctors will be able to handle different scenarios.

Gafford, who is the mother of six boys, particularly likes it when her role-playing coincides with real-life issues she can relate to, such as advocating for her children's health.

"It puts my mind at ease as a parent to know that doctors will learn how to take parents into consideration," she says.

"The more practice and exposure they have, the better doctors they will be," says Burney, who recently retired from a career in social services. "As I get older, I want to know that if I roll into an ER, that doctor will know what to do."

Burney has been involved with the program for about five years, and is one of seven standardized patients who participated in the center's pilot certification program, designed by Charles in 2013.

During the 16-week certification class, standardized patients get in-depth medical education training, including learning how to do a head-to-toe medical exam. They also learned how to mentor other participants.

The center's staff has started offering more networking opportunities among the standardized patients, to share tips and hints about how to handle a variety of scenarios. As a longtime participant, Burney says this has created more consistency in role-playing.

According to the Association of Standardized Patient Educators, programs began in the 1960s in California. Now, about 50 medical schools across the country, including the KU campuses in Wichita and Kansas City, employ standardized patients.

Wichita's program began about 15 years ago as part of a federal grant, and initially was used only by students in the family medicine clerkship course. It has since evolved and expanded into a sophisticated patient simulation program for all divisions within the School of Medicine and the School of Pharmacy.

The facility, which includes 12 exam rooms outfitted with two video cameras controlled from an observation room, is also utilized by students from Wichita State University.