Final year M.Pharm. student views and performance in objective structured clinical examinations

Abstract

Introduction: Objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) are widely used as a competency-based assessment of clinical skills within M.Pharm. programmes of many United Kingdom (UK) pharmacy schools. Aim: To evaluate the clinical performance of final year M.Pharm. students and elicit their views and experiences of the OSCE assessment. Methods: Students were divided into 11 groups and completed an OSCE exam, comprising 11 stations of seven minutes in length, following a four-day placement in clinical practice. Students were asked to complete an acceptability questionnaire, and their OSCE performance was correlated with their final degree classification and their Oriel rank position. Results: Overall, the OSCE assessment is acceptable from the students’ perspective. Differences were found between the students’ performances at the individual OSCE stations. Students performed best on patient consultation stations and least on clinical-problem solving stations. There was no correlation between students OSCE marks and their Oriel rank position. There was however a strong correlation between the students OSCE mark and their final degree classification (r=0.528, n=119, p=0.000). Conclusion: Final year pharmacy undergraduates perform poorly in activities which demand an element of clinical problem identification. Further research is required on how clinical problem solving skills can be developed amongst undergraduates and the specific role placements have in achieving this.