Marlene and Dan Bergman spend a lot of time pretending to have health problems so nursing students can learn how to care for patients who are actually sick. 

The retired couple work part-time as standardized patients in the Simulation and Clinical Performance Laboratory at Cizik School of Nursing at UTHealth Houston. Faculty members develop scenarios that allow students to practice skills, and the Bergmans portray patients with specific symptoms and medical histories. 

Last fall, Mr. Bergman played the role of a patient needing an ultrasound for a group of emergency nurse practitioner students. 

“They went through the motions of the ultrasound session, and all of the students looked all over me for everything,” he recalled. “At the end, one of the students said, ‘I see something different.’” 

The spot the student found on his kidney turned out to be cancerous. “There were no symptoms, and it was caught before it spread,” said Mr. Bergman, who is now recovering from surgery. 

The couple never imagined such a dramatic turn of events when they signed up to dramatize patient interactions for health care students. Mrs. Bergman, a retired nurse, learned about standardized patients from a former colleague and thought it would be a good way to give back to the profession. Mr. Bergman got involved a couple of years later after he retired from a career in finance. 

“I feel like the most important element of this program is to improve the ability of students to communicate and understand,” Mr. Bergman said. “I try to involve the student as much as possible.” 

Mrs. Bergman agrees. “In this field you have to ask about anything and everything,” she said. “They have to get over being embarrassed.” 

She portrays patients at two medical schools in addition to Cizik School of Nursing, and Mr. Bergman is planning to apply to other institutions as well. 

The Bergman’s frequently recommend becoming standardized patients to other retired people. The work provides opportunities for intellectual stimulation and socialization, and standardized patients can accept assignments as frequently or infrequently as they choose.

“You meet people you might never have met in other situations,” Mrs. Bergman said. 

The couple never knows when they might run into a nurse they helped prepare for the real world. During an emergency department visit last year, a nurse recognized them from simulation where they played family members resistant to receiving vaccinations. 

“There I was being treated by one of our students!” Mrs. Bergman said. “She was very attentive.”

Applications are now being accepted for standardized patients at Cizik School of Nursing.

Sherri Deatherage Green