Heartbreak into help: How a standardized patient at UNT Health is shaping future providers
When you live in the country, it’s not often you get visitors stopping by your house,
especially at 2 a.m., so when Judi Lamoreaux saw bright lights outside her bedroom,
she knew something was wrong. It was a Texas State Trooper knocking on her door with
a message: her 21-year-old son Dylan had been in a motor vehicle accident.
“You need to hurry to the hospital; he’s not expected to make it,” the officer said.
The family rushed to John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth to be with their son for the next three months, staying by his bedside nonstop. Dylan survived, but he had a traumatic brain injury.
“When the accident happened, we were forced into a different world that we didn’t even realize was a reality,” Lamoreaux said. “Our lives were flipped upside down, and I don’t think it will return to normal until he’s whole again, and that probably won’t happen in this lifetime.”
That world they were thrust into was one of constant care, medical procedures, and appointments with physicians, physical therapists, nurses, physician assistants, and pharmacists. Health care professionals that UNT Health Fort Worth is training each day, and Lamoreaux is now part of that team. In 2023, Lamoreaux joined the UNT Health Regional Simulation Center as a standardized patient who works with students from the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine, the College of Pharmacy, the College of Nursing and students from the College of Health Professions.
It has been 11 years since the accident that nearly took her son’s life, but he still
requires nearly round-the-clock care because of the accident, along with another medical
mishap that occurred a few months later. Her journey with her son is one of perseverance,
but one that Lamoreaux wants to use to help shape future providers who might one day
care for her son.
“It feels deeply personal to me,” she said. “I’m not just helping the students take a history or perform an exam, I’m helping shape the doctors who will care for my adult son who has special needs.”
Standardized Patients are individuals specially trained to portray patients, family members, or others in realistic scenarios to teach and assess healthcare students' communication, physical examination, and clinical skills. They provide consistent, safe, and controlled environments for learners, offering immediate, constructive feedback on performance.
“Every time I step into a character, I’m creating a space for students to grow, not just in skill, but empathy,” Lamoreaux said.
Empathy, a buzzword in the health care profession, is lacking. Judi and her son Dylan experienced it in the worst of ways during his battle to survive. Three months after the initial accident, Dylan was moved into a nursing home to continue his rehabilitation. After receiving food through his feeding tube, he was laid down on his back too soon, which caused him to aspirate and progress into cardiac arrest. Dylan suffered an anoxic brain injury, and this setback was significant. His functionality was further degraded after his brain went nearly 25 minutes without oxygen.
Following this incident, one physician looked at Judi and asked point-blank: “How much longer do you want to do this?” He was asking how much longer she wanted to take care of her son, Dylan.
“I was appalled,” she said. “I told him forever, you don’t just stop. I couldn’t believe he said that. I think about that when I’m working with students at UNT. I want them to learn about the interaction with families of patients.”
The first difficult encounter with a physician occurred three weeks after Dylan’s initial accident. He had an MRI of his brain, and the neurologist came in with the results. The results weren’t shocking to the family; they expected the unfortunate news, but what they didn’t expect was the demeanor of the physician.
“The doctor came in and said, ‘I don’t even know why we are doing this,’ said Lamoreaux.
As difficult as those moments were, they were isolated when looking at the totality of Dylan’s care. Lamoreaux recalls an ear, nose, and throat physician who treated Dylan as if he were a member of the family, compassionate nurses, and physical therapists who always encouraged Dylan during rehabilitation sessions. She has taken those moments, the different scenarios that her family has encountered with health care professionals, and brought them to simulations and the next generation of providers who someday could be caring for Dylan.
“It really touches me every time I do an encounter, whether it’s scripted or modeling where they practice on us,” Lamoreaux said.
As a standardized patient, she has encountered nervous students, who sometimes display it with nervous laughter, but in her role, she is quick to teach them the appropriate way to speak to a patient and reset their mentality with the hopes of teaching them that bedside manner starts the second you walk in the door.
“I just feel strongly as a standardized patient about the future of our doctors for them to be as empathic and compassionate for not only patients, but their families,” said Lamoreaux.
Her son Dylan’s situation is fluid. He is conscious enough to the point where he responds occasionally with a sound, and even at times when he has had a crooked smile at the appropriate time. Lamoreaux knows his brain injury isn’t like a broken arm or hip that can be remedied over time; his care will last a lifetime. It is that experience that motivated Lamoreaux to become involved as a standardized patient.
“I really feel like it’s a calling,” she said. “Every time that I go to work as a standardized patient, I’m always thinking I would love to have this student as Dylan’s neurologist, or his PT, or a nurse taking care of him. I want to know where they are going to practice and whether they will take my son as a patient.”
It’s the human side of medicine that Lamoreaux is trying to teach students. Acknowledging patients when they walk in the room, not overlooking someone because of the state they are in, but connecting with them as a person in all aspects.
“I’m the mother of a miracle,” she said. “I truly have high hopes about what I see coming from UNT Health. There are a lot of good doctors who are coming up in this field, and I’m honored to play a small role in their training.”