Improving preparation for pharmacy entry-to-practice OSCE using a participatory action research.

Area of Science:

• Pharmacy Education
• Medical Simulation
• Clinical Skills Assessment

Background:

• The University of Geneva (UNIGE) faced higher failure rates for its pharmacy graduates in the federal Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE).
• A 3-week pharmacy services course in the Master's program was redesigned to address this.
• Key pedagogical changes included shifting from in-classroom summative OSCEs to online formative OSCEs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of newly implemented online teaching activities on pharmacy students' OSCE performance.
• To assess the perceived usefulness of these new activities by students.
• To investigate factors contributing to student challenges in the OSCE.

Main Methods:

• Implementation of online formative OSCEs, group/individual debriefings, and 18-hour clinical case simulations between 2019-2022.
• Comparison of UNIGE failure rates before and after the intervention.
• Collection of student feedback via questionnaire surveys.

Main Results:

• UNIGE's OSCE failure rate decreased from 6.8% (2018/2019) to 3.3% (2022).
• The disparity in failure rates between UNIGE and other institutions narrowed.
• Students found the redesigned course and new activities beneficial, despite challenges like stress and insufficient practical training.

Conclusions:

• The study suggests that online formative activities, including OSCEs and case simulations, can enhance patient-facing skills and improve OSCE outcomes.
• Pedagogical principles like constructive alignment and formative assessment appear beneficial in online learning environments.
• While not establishing direct causality, the results indicate a positive trend in addressing the initial performance gap.