For this teaching activity, I acted as a standardized patient during an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE). This was the first OSCE for the P1 pharmacy class at Harding University College of Pharmacy. During this OSCE, the students were given the scenario of a student pharmacist presenting a medication recommendation to a provider for a patient with either uncontrolled hypertension or uncontrolled diabetes. They were expected to provide patient background, an assessment of the patient, and a medication recommendation with rational. They were also graded on their confidence and communication skills during the interaction.
Date: October 1, 2024
Length of Activity: Three hours
Prep Time: No preparation was required.
Learners: Eight P1 students
Comfort Level: Medium
Teaching Goals Addressed:
SMART Goal 3: Learn how to provide quality feedback by providing constructive criticism to students through a variety of student-led teaching opportunities.
Reflection: During this experience, I had the opportunity to experience the other side of an OSCE simulation than what I experienced as a student pharmacist just a short time ago. Having OSCE experience as a student allowed me to understand the uncertainty and anxiety that the students felt going into the learning experience. As the "standardized participant," I was able to act as a provider to create a situation that occurs quite frequently in a real practice setting. As a clinical pharmacist, you should be making many medication recommendations to providers throughout the work day, so student pharmacists need to become comfortable making recommendations. As a pharmacist who works alongside providers on a daily basis, I felt like I could play the part of a provider well and ask appropriate questions to the students. As first year pharmacy students, they hadn't yet learned a lot of clinical knowledge, but I was pleasantly surprised to see how confident most of them seemed when providing me (the provider) with information on the patient and rational to back up their recommendation. At the end of the simulation, I had the opportunity to share with the students what I thought they did well and what I thought they could improve on.