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

Abstract

Introduction: Pharmacists play an important role in ensuring the safe, effective, and rational use of drugs in self-medication. Given the potential risks of self-medication, adequate training on self-medication counseling should be provided to pharmacy students during their academic education. Objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) could be used to train pharmacy students in these skills. This study evaluated the efficacy of an OSCE-based approach for training pharmacy students in self-medication counseling and communication skills. Methods: This randomized controlled study was conducted among pharmacy students using a pre-post design. The intervention group completed OSCE-based self-medication training, while the control group collected counseling-relevant information from summaries of product characteristics of over-the-counter drugs. The counseling and communication skills of both groups before and after training were assessed by completing OSCEs. The participants completed a self-assessment questionnaire on self-confidence and self-perceived proficiency before each OSCE encounter and a satisfaction survey at the end of the seminar. Results: Students were generally satisfied with the seminar. While the OSCE-trained group demonstrated significantly greater increases in counseling skills and self-confidence and self-perceived proficiency than the control group, both groups had similar increases in communication skills. Conclusion: The present study suggests that applying OSCEs as a learning tool for self-medication counseling is beneficial for improving students’ counseling skills as well as self-confidence and self-perceived proficiency. These results support the inclusion of OSCEs in pharmacy education and highlight its potential to bridge gaps between knowledge and practice.

Impact of a Digital Tool on Pharmacy Students’ Ability to Perform Medication Reviews: A Randomized Controlled Trial

“…In this pilot study, the two faculty members investigated potential strengths and weaknesses of the checklists. Afterwards, the checklists were discussed with two other faculty members (EO and SL) who already had experience in creating OSCE checklists from previous studies [ 31 , 32 , 33 ], and the checklists were further optimised. Nevertheless, an assessment of the validity of our checklist by an external expert panel would have further strengthened our method.…”

“…Performance of the participants in reviewing patient’s medication was assessed through first and second OSCEs. OSCE stands for “Objective Structured Clinical Examination” and is a modern verbal–practical examination method that has already been researched at the Institute of Clinical Pharmacy and is used as an innovative teaching and examination method [ 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 ]. OSCEs include about 20 stations, where one to two aspects of competence are tested per station.…”

Self-medication practice among adults in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

“…Clinical pharmacists play a major role in the management of this major health issue. They represent the key role-players in patients' and consumers' education and counselling about the appropriate use of different medicines intended for self-medication [6,7]. Pharmacists play a major role in identifying, solving, and preventing drug-related problems.…”