Pharmacy faculty and students' perceptions of standardized patients for objective structured clinical examinations.

Background And Purpose: Objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) are one method of assessing clinical competency and communication in doctor of pharmacy programs. The purpose of this study was to capture student and faculty perceptions regarding the use of standardized patients (SPs) in administering OSCEs.

Educational Activity And Setting: Pharmacy students in our program initially participated in OSCEs using internal-SPs (I-SPs) that consisted of faculty and staff acting as patients.

Comparison of pharmacy students' perceptions and attitudes toward spirometry first-hand experience versus paper-based active learning.

Background And Purpose: Spirometry is often technically challenging for patients. Previous studies have demonstrated the potential benefits of spirometry in the community pharmacy setting. This study compared pharmacy students' perceptions and attitudes toward performing spirometry, as well as implementing spirometry in clinics and community pharmacies through experiencing spirometry first-hand versus completing paper-based active learning exercises.