Evaluation of online OSCE (objective structured clinical examination) for understanding drug management cycle in pre-registered pharmacist education

Abstract

The objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) has been implemented as an assessment of pharmacist education. It can measure the ability of pharmacist students both structurally and objectively. But since the pandemic of Covid-19, the implementation of OSCE must be switched into an online method. Therefore, this study was aimed to evaluate the implementation of the first online OSCE for students in the pre-registered pharmacist program of the Department of Pharmacy UII, especially in pharmacy management course. It focused on the drug management cycle including selection, procurement, distribution, and use. Using the same competencies as the offline method, the online OSCE was designed and applied to apothecary student batch 37. It covers information and data collection, defining and solving the problem, and professionalism. The student and the examiner were met online via Zoom platform and mediated by Google Classroom for submitting the worksheet. There were five stations (selection and procurement, drug reception, distribution, drug storage, documentation, and report) that must be completed for each student with a duration of 10 minutes per station. The examiner evaluated student’s performance based on the rubric to assure objectivity. To evaluate the effectiveness of online OSCE, the student’s mark of batch 37 was compared to batch 36 that used an offline method. Based on the result, the final score of batches 36 was higher than 37, 82.33 versus 70.72 respectively (p<0.05, CI: 7.21±16.01). Technical problems on the online method such as devices, internet connection, and data plan have been strongly impacted on student’s performance during OSCE. Moreover, the IT skill of students also took effect on stations that require documentation or report using worksheets. In conclusion, many obstacles in the first online OSCE implementation reduced the final mark of students. A comprehensive effort on enhancing student’s readiness for online learning and system adjustment on online OSCE is important for further implementation.