Efficacy of an Objective Structured Clinical Examination Training Approach for Training Pharmacy Students in Diabetes Mellitus Counseling: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Pharmacists’ tasks are multifaceted and include, for example, vital counseling and communication skills. Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) could be used to train pharmacy students in these skills. Our study sought to determine the efficacy of our OSCE training approach for training pharmacy students’ counseling and communication skills on diabetes mellitus compared to a control group. This randomized controlled study was conducted with pharmacy students using a pre-post-design. The intervention group completed diabetes OSCE training, while the control group solved diabetes patient cases using subjective, objective, assessment, and plan notes. Before and after the respective training, both groups completed OSCEs evaluating counseling and communication skills. Before each OSCE encounter, the participants completed a self-assessment questionnaire and, upon completion of the seminar, filled out a satisfaction survey. The OSCE-trained group demonstrated a significantly greater increase in counseling and communication skills and self-confidence than the control group. Both groups were generally satisfied with the seminar. These results demonstrate that our OSCE training approach allows for the effective training of pharmacy students’ diabetes counseling and communication skills and suggests the inclusion of such a skill-based approach more widely in pharmacy students’ education.

Training Pharmacy Students in Self-Medication Counseling Using an Objective Structured Clinical Examination–Based Approach

“…This study found significant increases in self-confidence through the application of OSCEs, in agreement with findings in the literature. 22 , 33 - 35 Moreover, the majority of students in this study agreed that OSCEs should be implemented in future clinical pharmacy courses for training their counseling skills. These findings support students’ acceptance of OSCEs, which is in line with findings of other studies.…”

“…These findings support students’ acceptance of OSCEs, which is in line with findings of other studies. 22,33,36 Although the control group’s training with the SmPCs was rather disliked by the students, the positive results, including the significant increase in the analytical checklist score, global rating scale score, and self-assessment questionnaire score from pre- to post-training OSCEs, indicate a beneficial contribution on students’ counseling skills. Nevertheless, regarding the analytical checklist and self-assessment questionnaire, the OSCE-trained group was superior.…”

Objective structured clinical examination to teach competency in planetary health care and management – a prospective observational study

“…Previous research has shown that formative assessment with immediate feedback during the learning phase improves clinical competence [ 21 ]. OSCE training was found to be effective in improving counselling and communication skills and self-confidence [ 12 ]. Students found OSCE to be enjoyable and a welcome change from routine [ 11 ].…”

Use of Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) in a hybrid digital / in-person training for hormonal IUD in Nigeria: findings and applications of the approach

“…In the United States, standardized patients at OSCE stations have been used to assess resident doctors' ability to counsel vaccine-hesitant patients 23 , and medical students' ability to counsel patients with obesity 24 . OSCE has been used to improve communication, interpersonal and counseling skills 25 . Future training models for hormonal IUD scale up may want to explore use of OSCE as a training tool rather than (or in addition to) as an assessment tool.…”