Diane Ferguson, B.S.N., RN, director of the H-E-B Clinical Skills Center, was recently named the Outstanding Educator of the Year by the Association of Standardized Patient Educators.
The association promotes best practices and fosters research and professionalism among standardized patient educators. A standardized patient program uses lay people to simulate a patient in order to give feedback to medical students about their clinical and communication skills.
Ferguson is a founding member of ASPE. Since 2002, she has served three terms on the ASPE board of directors, twice as a committee chair and once as an elected officer.
Ferguson essentially founded the standardized patient program at UT Health San Antonio in 1995. The program, under the banner of the H-E-B Clinical Skills Center, moved to its present location in the Academic and Administration Building in 2005.