Traditional Student, Nontraditional Student, and Pharmacy Practitioner Attitudes Toward the Use of Standardized Patients in the Assessment of Clinical Skills

Performance-based assessments in pharmaceutical education are needed. We developed a pharmacy objective structured clinical examination (P-OSCE), using standardized patients, that requires participants to demonstrate the ability to perform clinically-based professional practice competencies. The purpose of this report was to evaluate the assessment process from the perspective of the person being tested. Thirty-six traditional students, 13 nontraditional students, and 15 BS-degree pharmacy practitioners were evaluated using the P-OSCE. At the end of the examination, participants voluntarily completed a five-point Likert scale questionnaire measuring their attitudes toward the assessment process. Descriptive analysis was performed on returned questionnaires with response mode reported. Chi-Square analyses were per-formed on similar items as follow-up to significant findings. Statistically significant differences among groups occurred on only one item. Traditional students were less comfortable with their responses in the counseling/consulting phase of the testing than were their nontraditional and practitioner counterparts (χ2 = 9.04, P = 0.011). The overall opinions of the participants were positive. All groups believed the P-OSCE reflected “real world ” practice and indicated their areas of strengths and weaknesses. Practitioners believed most positively in the process while traditional students stated that this assessment should become part of the curriculum. All groups recommended its continued use. This information may be use-ful to other programs considering performance-based assessments