Gynaecological teaching associates are not the answer

The standardised patient—you might have tested their cranial nerves in an objective structured clinical exam or consoled them in an emotionally charged communication skills session. Now the United Kingdom is welcoming a new generation of standardised patients known as gynaecology teaching associates (GTAs). These are women who have been trained to teach medical students how to do vaginal examinations, and then let their tutees practise on them. The GTAs give students immediate feedback. Sessions with GTAs are designed to help students overcome psychological barriers to carrying out these intimate examinations, and to ensure they do them competently before seeing patients in clinic. …