Impact of an Extracurricular OSCE on Student Pharmacists' Self-Reported Confidence and Competency in PPCP Use

To evaluate whether participation in a peer-led mock objective structured clinical examination (MOSCE) was associated with first-year student pharmacists' graded case performance in a required course, and whether self-reported confidence in applying the Pharmacists' Patient Care Process (PPCP) correlated with objective performance.

This retrospective observational study included first-year PharmD students enrolled in a required Introduction to Therapeutics course at the University of Southern California. MOSCE participation was voluntary. PPCP confidence was assessed before and after the MOSCE among participants. Graded adult and geriatric case discussion scores were collected for all eligible students. Independent-samples t tests compared case scores between MOSCE participants and nonparticipants. Pearson correlation analyses examined associations between confidence measures and case performance among MOSCE participants, including rubric domains for quality of contributions with and without communication.

Of 176 eligible students, 136 participated in the MOSCE, and 40 did not. Adult and geriatric case scores did not differ between participants and nonparticipants. Among MOSCE participants with complete confidence surveys and matched case scores, confidence measures were not significantly correlated with overall case performance. Exploratory analyses of the geriatric case identified weak correlations between change in confidence and select rubric domains.

Participation in a peer-led MOSCE increased self-reported confidence but was not associated with improved competence as measured by graded PPCP case performance, reinforcing that confidence should not be used as a surrogate for competence.