Use of Standard Patients in an Observed Structured Clinical Exam

The College of Pharmacy curriculum is designed for the students to begin with a foundation of knowledge that they then practice in a laboratory setting followed by application in a real world setting. This project will provide students in the Nonprescription Pharmacotherapeutics/Self-Care sequence opportunity to gain constructive feedback and more consistent practice of their skills prior to moving on to the Community Pharmacy - Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experience in their third year and Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience in their fourth-year. We began with refining a previously developed rubric used to evaluate students in the Objective Structured Clinical Exam. This involved identifying the communication skills and knowledge that the students should demonstrate during this capstone activity. Once the rubric was established, then the scripts used for the patients were developed to ensure that the standardized patient actor had sufficient information. Once the scripts were established, then actors were identified. The actors were trained through patient scenarios with a small group of students. The project was piloted during spring 2016 for use during the Objective Structured Clinical Exam in spring 2017. The project rubric and scripts have been used every spring for the past three years.