Barriers and facilitators to implementing simulation into pharmacy programs globally.

Background: MyDispense is a simulation software developed by Monash University that has been utilized by over 200 institutions worldwide to educate pharmacy students. However, little is known about the processes by which it is used to teach dispensing skills to students and how they use it to facilitate critical thinking in an authentic environment. This study aimed to understand and investigate how simulations are used to teach dispensing skills in pharmacy programs globally, and to determine the opinions, attitudes and experiences of pharmacy educators towards MyDispense and other simulation software within their pharmacy program.

A Simulated Learning Environment for Teaching Medicine Dispensing Skills.

Objective: To develop an authentic simulation of the professional practice dispensary context for students to develop their dispensing skills in a risk-free environment.

Design: A development team used an Agile software development method to create MyDispense, a web-based simulation. Modeled on virtual learning environments elements, the software employed widely available standards-based technologies to create a virtual community pharmacy environment.