Entrustable professional activities-based objective structured clinical examinations in a pharmacy curriculum.

Area of Science:

• Pharmacy Education
• Clinical Skills Assessment
• Healthcare Professional Training

Background:

• Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) are integral to pharmacy programs for evaluating student readiness for Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences (APPEs).
• OSCEs assess critical competencies required for real-world pharmacy practice.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of OSCEs in assessing pharmacy students' competencies.
• To align OSCE stations with Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) and Ability Statements (AS).
• To identify challenges in OSCE implementation and evaluation.

Main Methods:

• Sixty-nine second-year pharmacy students participated in a 3-station OSCE (medication history, patient education, provider communication).
• Stations were designed to assess ethical/legal behaviors, communication, and interprofessional collaboration, aligned with EPAs and AS.
• Evaluations were conducted by observers, standardized patients (SPs), and healthcare provider (HCP) evaluators.

Main Results:

• Students achieved average scores above 80% in ethical/legal behaviors (82.6%), communication (88.3%), and collaboration (89.3%).
• Significant differences were noted between observer and SP/HCP evaluations in specific stations.
• Discrepancies in observer assessments across stations indicated a need for consistent evaluation criteria.

Conclusions:

• Aligning OSCEs with EPAs and AS is crucial for reliable assessment of pharmacy students' clinical competencies.
• Ongoing efforts are necessary to enhance OSCE structure, content, and delivery for accurate evaluation of clinical readiness.
• Addressing implementation challenges like faculty involvement and resource constraints is vital for improving OSCE effectiveness.