Evaluating Effectiveness of Standardized Patients in Pharmacy Education: Evidence Review and Institutional Study

Honors Capstone Project

1

Advisor(s)

Lindsey Ferraro

Confirmation

1

Document Type

Paper

Location

ONU McIntosh Center; Dean's Heritage

Start Date

21-4-2026 2:30 PM

End Date

21-4-2026 4:45 PM

Abstract

Across various health care education classes, standardized patients are often utilized to help students practice communication, critical thinking, and overall enhance their clinical knowledge during role play counseling activities. Through application-based practices, students act as the health care professional and interact with a standardized patient and/or a standardized colleague to gain confidence in their abilities in a safe learning environment. By performing simulated patient encounters, students can bridge the gap between school and real-world health care settings. At Ohio Northern’s Raabe College of Pharmacy, pharmacy students undergo several counseling simulations with peers and faculty. These practice sessions culminate in an Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) that fifth-year pharmacy (P5) students complete in their Spring semester for their Capstone course. The OSCE is meant to serve as a tool to assess medication knowledge, guideline recommendation knowledge, and communication skills before P5s go on rotations. While some research exists showing the benefit of implementing standardized patients in learning, there is limited data supporting the use of younger students in those roles. Furthermore, there is little evidence to show whether or not previous exposure to OSCE layout and material impacts student performance on OSCEs later on. In this presentation, I provide a literature review of studies that support the use of standardized patients in health care education. I then analyze OSCE pass rate and overall Capstone grade data from the past couple years and identify whether students that volunteered to be standardized “patients” in their P4 year obtained better learning outcomes. The presentation concludes with a discussion of my findings; highlighting the benefits and detriments of pre-exposure to OSCE layout.

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Apr 21st, 2:30 PM Apr 21st, 4:45 PM

Evaluating Effectiveness of Standardized Patients in Pharmacy Education: Evidence Review and Institutional Study

ONU McIntosh Center; Dean's Heritage

Across various health care education classes, standardized patients are often utilized to help students practice communication, critical thinking, and overall enhance their clinical knowledge during role play counseling activities. Through application-based practices, students act as the health care professional and interact with a standardized patient and/or a standardized colleague to gain confidence in their abilities in a safe learning environment. By performing simulated patient encounters, students can bridge the gap between school and real-world health care settings. At Ohio Northern’s Raabe College of Pharmacy, pharmacy students undergo several counseling simulations with peers and faculty. These practice sessions culminate in an Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) that fifth-year pharmacy (P5) students complete in their Spring semester for their Capstone course. The OSCE is meant to serve as a tool to assess medication knowledge, guideline recommendation knowledge, and communication skills before P5s go on rotations. While some research exists showing the benefit of implementing standardized patients in learning, there is limited data supporting the use of younger students in those roles. Furthermore, there is little evidence to show whether or not previous exposure to OSCE layout and material impacts student performance on OSCEs later on. In this presentation, I provide a literature review of studies that support the use of standardized patients in health care education. I then analyze OSCE pass rate and overall Capstone grade data from the past couple years and identify whether students that volunteered to be standardized “patients” in their P4 year obtained better learning outcomes. The presentation concludes with a discussion of my findings; highlighting the benefits and detriments of pre-exposure to OSCE layout.