Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 Feb 12;77(1):14.
doi: 10.5688/ajpe77114.

An assessment program using standardized clients to determine student readiness for clinical practice

Ronald E Ragan  1 , David W Virtue, Susan J Chi
Affiliations

An assessment program using standardized clients to determine student readiness for clinical practice

Ronald E Ragan et al. Am J Pharm Educ. .

Abstract

Objective. To develop, implement, and review a competence-assessment program to identify students at risk of underperforming at advanced pharmacy practice experience (APPE) sites and to facilitate remediation before they assume responsibility for patient care.Design. As part of the standardized client program, pharmacy students were examined in realistic live client-encounter simulations. Authentic scenarios were developed, and actors were recruited and trained to portray clients so students could be examined solving multiple pharmacy problems. Evaluations of students were conducted in the broad areas of knowledge and live performance.Assessment. Measurements included student-experience survey instruments used to evaluate case realism and challenge; videos used to determine the fidelity of standardized clients, and clerkship performance predictions used to identify students who required individual attention and improvement prior to clerkship courses.Conclusions. The assessment program showed promise as a means of discriminating between students who are prepared for APPEs and those at risk for underperforming.

Keywords: advanced pharmacy practice experience; assessment; patient; performance; standardized client.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Miller’s Pyramid applied to the Kansas School of Pharmacy Standardized Client Program.a
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education. Accreditation standards and guidelines for the professional program in pharmacy leading to the doctor of pharmacy degree. Effective. July 1, 2007. http://www.acpe-accredit.org/deans/standards.asp. Accessed October 25, 2011.
    1. Epstein RM, Hundert EM. Defining and assessing professional competence. J Am Med Assoc. 2002;287(2):226–235. - PubMed
    1. Schuwirth LWT, van der Vleuten CPM. A plea for new psychometric models in educational assessment. Med Educ. 2006;40(4):296–300. - PubMed
    1. Frederiksen JR, White BY. Designing assessments for instruction and accountability: an application of validity theory to assessing scientific inquiry. Yearb Natl Soc Study Educ. 2004;103(2):74–104.
    1. Harden RM, Gleeson FA. Assessment of clinical competence using an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) Med Educ. 1979;13(1):41–54. - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources