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
. 2014 Dec 15;78(10):184.
doi: 10.5688/ajpe7810184.

An advanced objective structured clinical examination using patient simulators to evaluate pharmacy students' skills in physical assessment

Jin Tokunaga  1 , Norito Takamura  1 , Kenji Ogata  1 , Nao Setoguchi  1 , Miho Utsumi  2 , Yasuyuki Kourogi  1 , Takashi Osaki  3 , Mineo Ozaki  4 , Keizo Sato  1 , Kazuhiko Arimori  5
Affiliations

An advanced objective structured clinical examination using patient simulators to evaluate pharmacy students' skills in physical assessment

Jin Tokunaga et al. Am J Pharm Educ. .

Abstract

Objective: To implement an advanced objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) in the curriculum and to evaluate Japanese pharmacy students' skills in physical assessment such as measuring pulse and blood pressure, and assessing heart, lung, and intestinal sounds.

Design: An advanced OSCE was implemented in a hospital pharmacy seminar as a compulsory subject. We programmed patient simulators with 21 different patient cases in which normal and abnormal physiological conditions were produced. The virtual patients were then used to evaluate the physical assessment skills of fifth-year pharmacy students.

Assessment: Significant differences were observed between the average of all the detailed evaluations and the mean results for the following skills: pulse measurement, blood pressure measurement, deflating the cuff at a rate of 2-3 mmHg/sec, listening to heart sounds, and listening to lung sounds.

Conclusion: Administering an advanced OSCE using virtual patients was an effective way of assessing pharmacy students' skills in a realistic setting. Several areas in which pharmacy students require further training were identified.

Keywords: advanced OSCE; evaluation; pharmacy education; physical assessment; simulator.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
The list of tasks in the advanced objective structured clinical examination.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Health Policy Bureau. Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. The promotion of team medical care through the cooperation and coordination of medical staff. April 30, 2010. http://www.mhlw.go.jp/shingi/2010/05/dl/s0512-6h.pdf. Accessed November 1, 2013.
    1. Notification of Health Policy Bureau. Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. The promotion of team medical care through the cooperation and coordination of medical staff. Japanese Society of Hospital Pharmacists, Interpretation and Specific Example (Ver.1.1). October 29, 2010. http://www.jshp.or.jp/cont/10/1029-2.html Accessed November 1, 2013.
    1. A Basic Way of Thinking for Team Medical Care Promotion and Practical Casebook, Working Group about Examination of Team Medical Care Promotion Policy “team medical care promotion meeting”, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. June 2011. http://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/shingi/2r9852000001ehf7-att/2r9852000001ehgo.pdf. Accessed November 1, 2013.
    1. Okumura N. Generalization after the Pharmacy Common Examination of the first year. Pharmacia. 2010;46(12):1155–1160.
    1. Pharmaceutical Common Achievement Tests Organization. Enforcement results about pharmaceutical common achievement tests. http://www.phcat.or.jp/?page_id=301. Accessed December 18, 2013.