Lights flashed and a recorded siren blared as a small group of medical students kneeled around a mannequin. Two applied tourniquets to the mannequin’s severed leg and wrist, while a third pressed gauze into an open wound and a fourth checked for other injuries. After two and a half minutes...

The medical student had barely entered the examination room when the woman inside started shouting. “I thought I could trust you!” she yelled, hurling a stream of criticism about her medical treatment. Fortunately for all involved, the situation was a simulated patient encounter in the UCR School of Medicine. The...