Identifying criteria for the assessment of pharmacy students' communication skills with patients.

Objectives: To identify criteria by which patients can assess the communication skills of pharmacy students.

Method: Potential assessment criteria were generated from 2 main sources: a literature review and a focus group discussion. A modified two-round Delphi survey was subsequently conducted with 35 professionals who were actively involved in teaching and assessing communication skills of pharmacy students to determine the importance and reliability of each criterion.

Results: Consensus ratings identified 7 criteria that were important measures of pharmacy students' communication skills and could be reliably assessed by patients.

Conclusions: A modified two-round Delphi consultation survey successfully identified criteria that can be used by patients to assess the communication skills of pharmacy undergraduates. Future work will examine the feasibility of using patients as assessors of communication skills of pharmacy students, preregistration pharmacists, and qualified pharmacists.