Communicating definitive uncertainty: Teaching pharmacy students to say “I don't know”

Abstract

Background and purposeCommunicating uncertainty is an art requiring practice. The purpose of this study was to compare pedagogies for the instruction of pharmacy students in communicating definitive uncertainty. Educational activity and settingA case scenario featuring a busy physician asking a question without a definitive answer was directed to the pharmacy student using two pedagogies: (1) in-person standardized client and (2) virtual written case. Students provided self-assessments of their confidence in communicating uncertainty after completing the case utilizing a survey containing both rating scale questions and open-ended questions. Self-confidence within-group differences were compared using Wilcoxon signed-rank tests and between-group differences were compared using Mann-Whitney U tests. Responses to open-ended questions were descriptively analyzed for themes using qualitative assessment methods. FindingsBoth the in-person standardized client (70 to 81, P ≤ .001) and the virtual written case (74 to 85, P ≤ .001) significantly increased students' self-rated confidence to verbalize “I don't know” to a healthcare provider. No significant differences were observed between the pedagogies. However, students who participated in the virtual written case mentioned a desire for “additional practice opportunities” more frequently than students who participated in the in-person standardized client. SummaryIn-person standardized client and virtual written case are effective methods for increasing pharmacy student comfort with communicating definitive uncertainty. Further research is needed to instruct pharmacists in uncertainty communication.