Using simulations and standardized patients in intervention research.

Caregiving is both an art and a science; both knowledge and skills are necessary to improve the quality of care that professionals provide. Researchers are often limited in their assessment of skill performance due to inadequate and unrealistic measurement options. Simulation using standardized patients offers researchers an objective method to evaluate skill performance. This article describes the use of simulations by researchers in their quest to measure changes in violence prevention skills after an intervention program given to nurse assistants working in long-term care facilities.