Actors needed to help physicians improve communication skills

About the project and the company

We are the Cambia Palliative Care Center for Excellence (CPCCE) and our mission is to improve palliative care for all people of all ages with serious illness and for their families by integrating research, education, and clinical care.

We achieve this mission by:

• Enhancing patient-centered care for people with serious illness and their families,
• Training and supporting clinicians for delivery of excellent palliative care across the spectrum of training from pre- to post-professional licensure, and
• Conducting research and quality improvement projects to promote innovation in delivering value-based, patient-centered care to diverse populations across the lifespan.

CPCCE also partners and collaborates with palliative care programs from other institutions and serves as a regional and national resource.

Job Description

The Cambia Palliative Care Center of Excellence at the University of Washington is hiring actors for communication skills trainings. We teach communication skills to clinicians and trainees who work with patients facing serious illness. We hire actors to portray patients or family members of patients, allowing our course participants to practice communication skills in a simulated environment.  We are looking for experienced actors with strong improvisational skills who can respond to students’ skilled and unskilled communication in real time. Actors are provided with a patient or family member’s backstory and are trained by one of our experienced communication skills teachers.  Trainings are virtual currently but many will return to in-person starting in the fall. Pay is $25/hour and parking is reimbursed for in-person trainings.

Required Qualifications

Actors must have very reliable internet, camera and audio for virtual trainings. We need actors in a variety of age ranges depending on the scenario, but have the greatest need for those who can play age ranges of 30-40, 40-50 and 50-60.