AccessVR Expands Its Role Player Workforce

Professional Role Players Provide The ‘Talent’ for Immersive Learning Scenarios

AccessVR has hired 54 role players since February to serve as standardized patients (SPs) for the George Washington University School of Nursing (GWU). As a part of its undergraduate and graduate nursing curriculum, GWU utilizes role players for its Advanced Health Assessment course and for objective structured clinical examination (OSCE I and OSCE II) training events. 

Standardized Patients (SPs) are independent specialists trained to portray patient scenarios for the instruction and assessment of clinical skills of medical and health care students as well as other diverse professionals.

According to AccessVR Director of Role Play and Simulation Sally Anderson, more than 90 applicants from across the region participated in a comprehensive auditioning process. Thirty-two were selected in February and another 22 have been added since then, representing a spectrum of ages and diversity.

“The youngest is 27 and the oldest is 72,” said Anderson.

The newly hired role players already completed a three-day simulation exercise for GWU in Feb. and will begin another round in May.

“Role players do a great job of learning the cases and then playing the part for our students,” said Crystel L. Farina, Ph.D. (c), RN, CNE, CHSE, director of simulation and experiential learning at The George Washington School of Nursing. “They provide a very rich learning environment for our students because each student has the ability to interact, assess, develop diagnostic reasoning, and make clinical decisions based on the role-player’s responses to questions and actions. 

According to Dr. Farina, during COVID-19, role players provided support for students during simulated telehealth visits.

“We could not do what we do in nursing education without them,” said Farina.

AccessVR also provides professional training for role players, offering every-other week classes to help them hone their skills across a variety of topics and scenarios.

“Our goal is to raise the bar for professional role play and patient simulation across the nation and beyond,” said Anderson. “As we grow, we will be in the enviable position of providing actors with consistent work while expanding AccessVR’s reputation as a quality provider of talented role players for the emerging Experience Economy.”