Assessment of students’ pharmacist competency in dispensing cough medicines for self-medication: a simulated patient study

Abstract

Background Cough is a symptom for which patients present to community pharmacists for relief. As future pharmacists, pharmacy students must be evaluated for their competence in providing self-medication services. Aims To measure the Indian pharmacy students’ capability (competency) in delivering self-medication consultation service (SMCS) to simulated cough patients and to identify the factors associated with the provision of appropriate advice. Settings and design A prospective, interventional, cross-sectional study using a simulated patient method describing the product and symptom-based request of chronic cough was used on students from a pharmacy school in India. The type and quantity of information gathered and advice delivered by student pharmacists were recorded. Materials and methods The data collected before and after pharmacy students received SMCS training were summarized. Statistical analysis used A descriptive-statistics was performed to identify the factors associated with the provision of advice. Result Participated students gathered information from simulated patients before providing advice to them. Direct medical referral which is considered optimized advice was provided by 46.7% and 91.1% of the 90 participants, before and after receiving self-medication consultation training (SMCT), respectively. Participants who gathered information on the duration and the nature of cough, past medical conditions, and medication use were positively associated with the delivery of optimum recommendations. Conclusion After receiving SMCT, pharmacy students’ competency to provide SMCS improved. Future studies are required to determine the elements that influence pharmacy students’ competence in providing SMCS.