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Improving Pharmacy Student Communication Outcomes Using Standardized Patients, Chris Gillette, Michael Rudolph, Nicole Rockich-Winston, Robert B. Stanton, H. Glenn Anderson Jr.

Pharmacy Practice & Administration

Objective. To examine whether standardized patient encounters led to an improvement in a student pharmacist-patient communication assessment compared to traditional active-learning activities within a classroom setting.

Methods. A quasi-experimental study was conducted with second-year pharmacy students in a drug information and communication skills course. Student patient communication skills were assessed using high-stakes communication assessment.

Results. Two hundred and twenty students’ data were included. Students were significantlymore likely to have higher scores on the communication assessment when they had higher undergraduate GPAs, were female, and taught using standardized patients. Similarly, students were significantly more likely to pass the assessment on the …