The standardized patient encounter: a dynamic educational approach to enhance students' clinical healthcare skills.

Occupational therapy educators are challenged to prepare students entering the profession to be skilled in assessment, critical thinking, self-analysis, and decision-making. Simulation is an effective strategy used in medical and nursing curriculums to develop or enhance critical thinking, self-analysis, and decision-making skills. Through simulated learning activities, such as encounters with standardized patients (SP), students develop skills in decision-making, clinical reasoning, and interpersonal communication, skills necessary to function effectively in the current health care environment.