University of Rochester · 3 months ago
ACTor, Palliative Care Program
Rochester, New York Metropolitan Area
Full-time
Onsite
New Grad, Entry Level
$17/hr - $24/hr
0+ years expThe University of Rochester is committed to fostering an inclusive community and is seeking an ACTor for their Palliative Care Program. This role involves portraying characteristics of patients or family members to help train healthcare students and professionals in serious illness conversations, providing feedback and support in a safe learning environment.
Health CareMedicalUniversities
Responsibilities
Portrays characteristics of a patient or family member for the purpose of training and/or assessing health care students and professionals
Undergoes serious illness conversations with healthcare trainees or professionals in small-group setting, utilizing scripted materials to portray the specifics of a patient or scenario, including personal history, symptoms, emotional characteristics, and concerns of patients or family members
In a non-biased manner, portrays various roles and demeanors, providing an opportunity for health care students and professionals to practice or refine communication skills in a safe learning environment before utilizing these skills on actual patients
These roles and demeanors include the ability to carefully and extemporaneously modulate the emotional tenor of the role from moment to moment, based on the learner’s use of specific communication skills, or lack thereof, and subtle direction from the small group facilitator in the moment
Following the initial conversation with a learner, the “replay” also requires the ability to “rewind” to a specific point in the conversation, both in terms of content and emotional tenor
Consistently and accurately portrays various medical scenarios or cases during mock serious illness conversations in a small-group setting (up to 9 learners)
These may occur in person, by video, or over the phone and may be recorded for education, quality improvement/assurance, and/or research purposes
Responds to basic medical history questions in an authentic, flexible, and directed manner
Responds to use of specific communication skills, or lack thereof, by the learner as directed by the ACT Program Director and/or Course Facilitator
Is able to module emotional tenor and content of the role from moment to moment, including “rewinding” to a specific point in the conversation during the “replay” and then show an improvement in response to the learner’s appropriate use of a specific communication skill
Improvises routinely to respond appropriately to learners’ changes in approach, or when an interview does not go as expected
Maintains confidentiality of information related to cases, student behaviors, and evaluations
Undergoes repeated challenging serious illness conversations in front of a small group of learners (up to 9 learners), “resetting” as needed both during a given learner’s turn and between learners
Emotional “work” includes portrayal of “extremes” of emotion, including but not limited to: angry, sad, accusatory, and withdrawn, among others as needed
Is able to make learners “uncomfortable” in a variety of ways, up to and including, yelling, crying, “getting in their face,” and occasionally using mildly-foul language
These abilities will be demonstrated with up to 6 learners per hour
Memorizes case scenario and simulate details, including but not limited to, chief medical complaint(s) and symptoms, past medical history and physical exam results in addition to the body language, emotional state, behaviors and personality of the role being portrayed
Completes standardized patient orientation, as well as ongoing training sessions
Trainings may include live, online and self-study components
Participates in group training and/or mentorship of newly hired standardized patients
Provides educationally constructive verbal feedback as appropriate to learners
Receives feedback from the supervisor/trainer and incorporates it into future examination sessions
Demonstrates objectivity when interacting with and rating Facilitators
Responds to basic inquiries and completes other administrative functions in support of ACT Program operations as needed
Other duties as assigned
Qualification
Required
High school diploma or the equivalent
6 months of work or volunteer experience. Experience in theatre, a medical field or education
Strong communication skills, both written and spoken
Strong reading and writing skills to absorb and use the detailed case training information
Ability to accurately portray a wide range of roles and scenarios, include extremes of emotion (e.g., angry, sad, accusatory, withdrawn, etc.), to remain in character throughout the interaction with the learner, and to improvise within the confides of the role routinely to guide learners' growth
Ability to reset emotional tenor accurately multiple times with each learner and between learns during each small-group session, with up to 6 learners per hour
Ability to work closely with, and take subtle direction from, the Course Facilitator during a small group session
Organization, reliability and punctuality
Willing and able to work a varied, flexible schedule
Preferred
Fluency in more than one language
Company
University of Rochester
The University of Rochester is a private research university located in Rochester, New York.
10001+ employees
H1B Sponsorship
University of Rochester has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
Represents job field similar to this job
Trends of Total Sponsorships
2025 (234)
2024 (126)
2023 (130)
2022 (106)
2021 (100)
2020 (92)
Funding
Current Stage
Late StageTotal Funding
$20.43MKey Investors
National Science FoundationUnitedHealthcareSociety to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine
2023-09-25Grant· $18M
2023-07-26Grant· $0.07M
2022-09-20Grant· $0.05M
Leadership Team
David Linehan
Chief Executive Officer
Recent News
2025-12-04
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