Nonphysician women instructors from a women's health center taught the pelvic examination to second-year Harvard Medical School students. Demonstrating the procedure and acting as subjects, they also showed how patients can be offered explanations of the procedure and their own health during the examination. (Author/LBH)

Against the background of the problems associated with teaching the pelvic examination and the success reported in the literature for using "simulated patients," the uniformly positive student and faculty assessment of the acceptability of using partners as subjects for teaching this examination suggests strongly that this approach is…