OSCE Pharmacy

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giffyw

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Our pharmacy class is taking the OSCE in a couple of days. I heard it's a new skills examination for accreditation. Has anyone else taken this in pharmacy school? If so, any tips?

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My program has required OSCE at the end of every semester in school. First couple of semesters was based on a set rubric (introduce yourself and title, identify two patient primers for validation such as name and date of birth, allergies, so on and so forth). Basically first year was "actors" playing patients and you as the intern have to look at their prescription & see what information is missing (if any) and how you would counsel on that specific medication (a top 200 drug).

My last one though (couple days ago actually) was a Drug Information and Discharge Counseling scenario (my last didactic semester at that). This required 30 minutes to look at a patient case that the provider or resident put in, look at current medications, and answer the primary question being asked by the physician (ie how to dose vancomycin, how to dose heparin, what changes of current meds need to be made, etc). You would then be given two follow-up questions and be graded on your recommendations and your follow up responses (either knowing the answer or knowing how to get the answer after putting in your input).

All in all, unless your program incorporates days to "act it out" for practice, you can't really prepare for it. Especially for your first time.
 
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We took it in 2018 and it was a massive waste of time. Not a single pharmacotherapy-related question on it, maybe it's changed since then.
 
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My program has required OSCE at the end of every semester in school. First couple of semesters was based on a set rubric (introduce yourself and title, identify two patient primers for validation such as name and date of birth, allergies, so on and so forth). Basically first year was "actors" playing patients and you as the intern have to look at their prescription & see what information is missing (if any) and how you would counsel on that specific medication (a top 200 drug).

My last one though (couple days ago actually) was a Drug Information and Discharge Counseling scenario (my last didactic semester at that). This required 30 minutes to look at a patient case that the provider or resident put in, look at current medications, and answer the primary question being asked by the physician (ie how to dose vancomycin, how to dose heparin, what changes of current meds need to be made, etc). You would then be given two follow-up questions and be graded on your recommendations and your follow up responses (either knowing the answer or knowing how to get the answer after putting in your input).

All in all, unless your program incorporates days to "act it out" for practice, you can't really prepare for it. Especially for your first time.
That sounds absolutely horrible, I'll just wing it then. Thanks for sharing!
 
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It was basically a mock live fire scenario for us. One floor at my school (this was back like pre-2010) was a mock up of a hospital wing on one side and outpatient clinic on the other. We would get a random patient case, 10 mins to read (I think), then go in with an actor pretending to be a patient.

There’s audio/video of the encounter and you’re scored on a set of criteria.

Kind of intimidating as a new student, but it’s as close to the real thing you can get before full on rotations/real life.

We had a mock pharmacy on another floor and they’d make the phones ring, and one call was the professor calling in a pediatric abx script.
 
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Never heard of this. What's it for?
 
As long as you mildly payed attention during your labs and coursework, you’ll be fine.
 
I didn't pass OSCE on my first try! Of course relied on what was taught at school and all the cases! I passed on my 2nd try after taking an online course. However, I am not sure if the course helped or was it because I switched Provinces! My first try was in Ontario! 2nd was in BC where I had moved with the family, so I thought I'd just take the OSCE there. Any way, I used the course from pharmachieve (sucks big time), and I also baught this course online https://clinicalpharmacycourses.com/courses/pebc-pharmacy-osce-training-online/ . This was great especially that I took it just before the exam. All the best for everyone!
With as many times as you have linked that site now, you are starting to sound like an ad.
 
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