Improving Pharmacy Student Communication Outcomes Using Standardized Patients.

Area of Science:

• Pharmacy Education
• Communication Skills Training
• Standardized Patient Methodology

Background:

• Effective pharmacist-patient communication is crucial for patient care and medication adherence.
• Traditional classroom-based active learning may not fully replicate real-world patient interaction challenges.
• Evaluating communication skills requires robust assessment methods.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the effectiveness of standardized patient encounters versus traditional active-learning methods in improving pharmacy student communication skills.
• To assess the impact of standardized patients on student performance in a high-stakes communication assessment.

Main Methods:

• A quasi-experimental study involving second-year pharmacy students in a drug information and communication skills course.
• Communication skills were evaluated using a standardized, high-stakes assessment.
• Comparison between students taught using standardized patients and those using traditional active-learning techniques.

Main Results:

• Students taught using standardized patients achieved significantly higher scores on the communication assessment.
• Female students and those with higher undergraduate GPAs also demonstrated improved assessment scores.
• Standardized patient instruction led to significantly higher first-attempt pass rates for the communication assessment.

Conclusions:

• Incorporating standardized patient encounters into pharmacy communication courses demonstrably enhances student performance.
• This methodology proves more effective than traditional active-learning strategies in improving both assessment scores and pass rates.
• Standardized patients offer a valuable tool for developing essential pharmacist-patient communication competencies.