University of Southern California
SUMMER w TROJAN
VOL XIX	LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, TUESDAY, JULY 2, 1968	NO. 5
Actress Performs in Hospital Bed
USC’s programmed patient sees Bach role as a challenge to her acting ability- She studies the expected response in such detail that she e^en assumed the personality of a seriously disordered patient.
According to Dr. Barrows, use of a programmed patient has many advantages. The actual patient is spared the ordeal of frequent examinations, and the programmed patient can “re play” illnesses until each student learns to recognize the signs of various neurological diseases.
“Even in a large teaching hospital like the County-USC Medical Center, some diseases are seen so infrequently that the student may never encounter them while he is in training,” he said. “Yet this may be the very illness he is called upon to diagnose later in private practice.*'
Anticipating planned increases in class enrollments at the USC School of Medicine, Dr. Barrows is now training other actresses and actors as programmed patients. The “veteran,” Miss Ma-kee, is coaching them in how to play their dramatic parts.
She is also continuing with her acting career in movies, television and little theatre groups. In a sense, this is the only time she can be herself. Satisfying though it may be to contribute one’s talent toward the education of physicians, no healthy, vivacious young lady—and Miss Makee is all of these—wants to be “sick” all the time,
Funeral Held For Major Contributor
Funeral services were held yesterday for Theodore W. Johnson, one of the major contributors toward the construction of Heritage Hall at USC, who died June 27.
Mr. Johnson, who retired last year as a senior vice president of Security First National Bank, with which he had been associated 50 years, pledged $250,000 to Heritage Hall.
His wife, Ivadelle, who survives him, joined in the commitment to the building to house USC’s department of intercollegiate athletics.
Mr. Johnson, a native of Chicago, lived in California 58 years, the early years near campus and near the site of Heritage Hall. He lived in the Flintridge area of Pasadena at the time of his death.
Friends of Mr. Johnson were invited by the family to make contributions to Heritage Hall in. his memory.
He was an honorary member of Alpha Kappa Psi business fra temity at USC.
Dr Howard S. Barrows of San Marino, professor of neurology who initiated and now directs this program, provides the “script” from actual case histories of neurological patients. Miss Makee has learned to simulate 13 different neurological diseases. As she puts it, “I make a career of being sick.”
This unusual exercise of her talents dates back almost three years. Newly-arrived from New York where she had appeared in off-Broadway shows and TV programs, Miss Makee heard that USC was experimenting with the use of programmed patients for teaching purposes. The enterprising young actress called Dr. Barrows and offered her services, He hired her at the first interview.
No one applauds when this tal- After the examination, the stu-
lented young lady performs. And	dent writes up his findings. The
her dramatic portrayals are of-	programmed patient also reports,
ten given for an audience of one.	completing an 88-question form
Nevertheless, undaunted, Margo	devised by Dr. Barrows to indi-
Makee of Westwood continues to	cate what steps the doctor took.
play her role over and over —	She also writes her personal re-
from a hospital bed. Miss Makee,	af,ion as a “Patient.” For exam-
pie, was the doctor s manner
a professional actress, is a pro-	b e? Was he svmpathetic
grammed patient employed by	and under3tanding? xhe doctor_
the School of Medicine as part of ,ent relationsh,p is a much.
the department of neurology s
teaching program for third-year
medical students.
before meetings sponsored by the Division of Postgraduate Education. At these courses for practicing physicians, he reads the “patient’s” history and calls for a volunteer to conduct the examination. Although they are told Miss Makee is a programmed patient, Dr. Barrows says her performance is so realistic the doctors repeatedly forget she is trained to feign illness.
Miss Makee recalls one meeting
But her most treasured recollection, her “reward,” came from the doctor who told her after a meeting that she was doing a great service for medical education. Miss Makee takes her job very seriously and is justifiably proud of her part in the education of physicians.
Depressed Housewife Other USC departments, as well as other medical schools, have engaged the services of this tal-
Observes Aphasia
Miss Makee’s training started on a ward at the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center. She was permitted to observe a patient who had aphasia, a condition often existing after a stroke where the patient loses the ability to speak coherently. Trained as a method actress, she studied the patient’s behavior and the cadence and quality of the speech until she could duplicate it.
Dr. Barrows trained her in the physical signs of the illness and then taught her to recognise what steps the doctor should take in conducting a proper neurological examination. After 100 hours of intensive training, Miss Makee was given a “test” by a physician who deliberately made mistakes in his examination to see if she would catch them. She did.
The programmed patient then went on to learn the signs that characterize other neurolog:cal disorders. “You have to learn a new case for each student group, because they talk to each other and compare notes,” she said.
The student is allowed 30 minutes to conduct his examination. He is told he will be seeing a programmed patient and that he is to assume those signs of the illness that cannot be simulated.
Realistic Conditions
The examination takes place under realistic conditions: the “patient” is in a hospital bed and there are no observers in the room A recent innovation to this program is the use of videotape to record the examination so that students may view their performance afterwards and make their own evaluation of it.
MARGO MAKEE PLAYS SICK
The professional actress works for the School of Medicine.’
stressed part of the teaching program, and the manner in which every student behaves with the patients he sees is evaluated by instructors in each department of the medical school. In this setting the unique contribution of the programmed patient is to provide an objective and consistent evaluation of clinical performance.
Dr. Barrows also uses the programmed patient in his lectures
where she was simulating a severe headache. She was crying (she sheds real tears) and complaining that the light made her head hurt. The doctor was so caught up in the moment that he stopped his examination to ask for a towel to cover her eyes. On another occasion she slipped into a “coma” during the examination. “The doctor was really concerned before he remembered I was just pretending,” she said
anted actress. She has played the part of a depressed housewife for a videotape prepared by the psychiatry department on medical interviews; a 50-year-old stroke patient for an educational TV program; an accident victim to demonstrate emergency room procedures. For one TV show Miss Makee was trained by five specialists to portray the typical latient responses to five types of headaches.