Computer-based patient simulations: hospital pharmacists' performance and opinions

Area of Science:

• Pharmacy education
• Clinical skills assessment
• Health professions simulation

Background:

• Pharmacists play a crucial role in medication problem-solving.
• Traditional methods for evaluating clinical skills may have limitations.
• Computer-based simulations offer a novel approach to training and assessment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate pharmacist performance in a computer-based patient simulation program.
• To assess pharmacists' attitudes towards using patient simulations for skill enhancement.
• To identify specific areas of strength and weakness in pharmacists' medication problem-solving abilities.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the Institutional Patient Medication Simulation program with five distinct clinical scenarios.
• Recruited pharmacists from nine hospitals to participate in the simulations.
• Collected performance data and attitudinal feedback through questionnaires.

Main Results:

• 79% of participating pharmacists completed the simulations and questionnaires.
• Performance scores for data gathering were below 70%, while case question scores exceeded 80%.
• Therapy decision scores varied, with lower performance in antimicrobial-related simulations; more experienced pharmacists performed better.

Conclusions:

• Pharmacists perceived the patient simulation program as a worthwhile educational tool.
• The simulations highlighted a need for improvement in pharmacists' patient data-gathering skills.
• Performance variability in therapy decisions suggests that even with adequate data, optimal decisions are not always achieved.