Implementing OSCE Exam for Undergraduate Pharmacy Students: A Two Institutional Mixed-Method Study

Abstract

Introduction: This study evaluates undergraduate pharmacy students' and examiners’ perceptions of implementing OSCE exam.
 Methods: A sample of 185 undergraduate pharmacy students (138 from Zarqa University and 47 from Yarmouk University) and 20 examiners were invited to complete a quantitative survey and qualitative focus group discussion, respectively.
 Results: 103 out of 185 (56%, response rate) undergraduate pharmacy students completed the quantitative survey, with 11 examiners out of 20 (55%) agreeing to participate in the examiners' focus group discussion. Most pharmacy students agreed that OSCE exam was a practical and useful experience (74.8%) and should be part of the assessment in other pharmacy courses (61.2%). However, less than a quarter thought that OSCE exam was not fair (17.5%), very intimidating (20.4%), and needed more time (29.1%). Examiners were generally in favour of OSCE exam being well-organised and well-administered despite the need for a large place to conduct and a good number of pharmacy staff to implement.
 Conclusion: Pharmacy students and examiners agreed that OSCE exam is an excellent and preferable clinical assessment tool. This study provides a scheme to evaluate OSCE exam as a clinical assessment tool and would help policy-makers gain more insight into the impact of implementing OSCE exam on students' clinical knowledge and communicational skills development and learning process.