Center for Clinical Skills

Center for Clinical Skills

About Us

The Center for Clinical Skills (CCS) supports the University of Hawai’i John A. Burns School of Medicine’s (JABSOM’s) mission to educate and train knowledgeable, competent and caring physicians by developing and implementing innovative educational experiences aimed at teaching and evaluating the bedside patient care skills of history taking, physical examination, interpersonal communication and counseling.

Since 1989, the Center for Clinical Skills has enlisted the help of volunteers from the community who serve as “Standardized Patients.” They assist in the teaching and evaluation of students at the John A. Burns School of Medicine. These volunteers are carefully trained to portray patients with illnesses in a realistic and reproducible manner and are examined by medical students who are learning or being evaluated on their ability to interact with patients. Standardized Patients are trained to assess and provide feedback to students, faculty and the medical school regarding a student’s bedside clinical skills.

Educational experiences that provide early exposure to live patients for pre-clerkship (e.g. first and second year) medical students have become a vital part of the medical school’s Problem-Based Learning Curriculum. Standardized patients are also used for assessments via Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCE’s) whereby students rotate through a series of clinical encounters, interacting with Standardized Patients with a variety of health concerns or counseling needs.

CCS utilizes the talents of over 200 volunteers from all sectors of the community who give of themselves in this worthwhile endeavor.

Faculty and Staff

Contact Information

Mailing Address: The Center for Clinical Skills
651 Ilalo Street, MEB 2nd Floor Honolulu,
Hawaii 96813, USA

Phone: (808) 692-0960
Fax: (808) 692-1249
Email: ccs@hawaii.edu