Over the counter clinical skills for pharmacists

This paper describes the development, implementation and evaluation of a clinical skills course for pharmacist independent and supplementary prescribers. The aim of the course was to develop the clinical and procedural skills of pharmacists to enable safe practice at an advanced level, in conjunction with their prescribing role.

The development of the programme used qualitative data from interviews with practising pharmacists, senior pharmacists and clinical skills teachers to identify the list of procedural skills to be learned and practised. On completion of the programme participants were asked to provide written feedback on the content, learning and reaction in practice.

Feedback from the participants was positive, with high satisfaction reported in terms of workshop organisation, content, teaching and skills practice. Participants completed an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) at the end of the workshop, and the results for each of the five skill stations tested were good. Participants also kept a reflective logbook in practice, detailing when and how they used the skills learned during the workshop.

This is the first national clinical skills assessment course of its kind to be undertaken in support of the development of a standardised approach to clinical and procedural skills. The use of structured learning with simulation, simulated and real patients, standardised procedural checklists, and peer learning and support has led to a very successful course for participants across Scotland.

The clinical skills assessment course is easily transferable across professions, and could be used to develop safe and effective clinical skills practice in a wide range of settings.