A Virtual Practice Environment to Develop Communication Skills in Pharmacy Students

Abstract

Objective. To develop communication skills in second-year pharmacy students using a virtual practice environment (VPE) and to assess students' and tutors' (instructors') experiences. Design. A VPE capable of displaying life-sized photographic and video images and representing a pharmacy setting was constructed. Students viewed prescriptions and practiced role-playing with each other and explored the use of nonverbal communication in patient-pharmacist interactions. The VPE experiences were complemented with lectures, reflective journaling, language and learning support, and objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs). Assessment. Most students believed the VPE was a useful teaching resource (87%) and agreed that the video component enabled them to contextualize patient problems (73%). While 45% of students questioned the usefulness of watching the role plays between students after they were video recorded, most (90%) identified improvement in their own communication as a result of participating in the tutorials. Most tutors felt comfortable using the technology. Focus group participants found the modified tutorials more engaging and aesthetically positive than in their previous experience. Conclusion. The VPE provided an effective context for communication skills development classes.

Racial Differences in Communication Apprehension and Interprofessional Socialization in Fourth-Year Doctor of Pharmacy Students

“…These structured scenarios can be used in an interprofessional and multicultural team-practice environment, which involves a low-stress, risk-free atmosphere for students to develop their communication skills and become aware of cultural diversity in interprofessional communication. 13,43 The current study also found that as communication apprehension increases, interprofessional socialization decreases (and vice versa) in each racial group; however, the relationship was significantly weaker in AfricanAmericans compared to Asians and Whites. It would make sense that less apprehension in communication would lead to increased comfort and ability in interprofessional teams.…”

Communication Capacity Building through Pharmacy Practice Simulation

“…2,6 Many health disciplines use simulations, including computer simulations, mannequin and actor simulations, [17][18][19] and some pharmacy schools incorporate simulated learning into their curricula. 13,15 Examples include virtual patients and online virtual patients, 18 virtual practice environments, 20 simulated patients with intellectual disabilities, 19 and human patient mannequins to teach interdisciplinary team skills. 2 A challenge for pharmacy education is to broaden the focus of communication competency development from pharmacy and interdisciplinary professional contexts to the totality of the student learning experience.…”

Using the virtual world of Second Life to teach cultural competence for health science professional students.

“…In addition Second Life™ has been found to be aesthetically pleasing and could potentially increase student engagement (Hussainy et al, 2012). This is not the first time that Second Life™ has been proven to improve student interest in and mastery of a specific study topic (Richardson, 2011;Yellowlees and Cook, 2006).…”

“…Other studies have also indicated that Second Life™ is an effective tool to improve communication skills, and allow for openness (Conradi, 2009;Kidd et al, 2012;Hussainy et al, 2012;Mitchell et al, 2011;Twining, 2009). The pseudoanonymity afforded by the avatars in Second Life™ makes for a comfortable learning environment, as reported by students in a pilot study at the University of Kentucky (Richardson et al, 2011).…”

“…Virtual worlds allow for students to put on various identities and reflect on the consequences of their actions (Games and Bauman, 2011). Virtual worlds have been shown to increase student engagement and learning abilities of students (Annang et al, 2010;Giddens et al, 2011;Hussainy et al, 2012;Twining, 2009)…”