Background In Germany 37.1% of dispensed medicinal products were intended to use in self-medication in 2017.¹ An investigation showed that 25.2% of children and adolescents used self-medication in Germany.² Hence, pharmacists’ education needs to include training for competence in consultation.³A modern method to train this competence is the use of OSCEs (Objective Structured Clinical Examinations). The aim of this study was to assess whether the use of OSCEs in pharmacy students to train the consultation performance on self-medication is more effective than a conservative teaching method.

Methods This randomised controlled investigation was conducted in a pre-post-design with pre-OSCEs before training and post-OSCEs after training in each group. Clinical skills at baseline and after the training were measured. Forty students in their last year of pharmacy studies were randomised into a control and an intervention group. The control group attended a lecture on self-medication and the intervention group had additionally to the lecture one hour of OSCEs for training purpose. An analytical checklist was used for measuring consultation skills and a global rating scale for assessing communication skills.

Results Complete data was received from 30 students (n=16 intervention group, n=14 control group). Consultation skills improved significantly (analytical checklist: 19.88% ± 10.95% intervention group vs. 9.29% ± 10.89% control group, p< 0.05). However, the communication skills (global rating scale: 20.83% ± 24.33% in the intervention group vs. 11.90% ± 17.12% in the control group, p= 0.380) did not improve significantly during the one-hour training period.

Conclusion OSCEs for training purpose are an effective method to convey pharmacy students consultation skills in self-medication. However, communication skills need more training. Based on these results OSCEs on self-medication for the paediatric population should be investigated. This is relevant due to the frequency of self-medication in the paediatric population.

References

1. Abda.de. [Internet]. Berlin: Federal union of German associations of pharmacists. Numbers, data, facts 2016. [Cited January 30, 2019]. Available from: https://www.abda.de/fileadmin/assets/ZDF/ZDF_2018/ABDA_ZDF_2018_Brosch.pdf

2. Du Y, Knopf H. Self-medication among children and adolescents in Germany: results of the National Health Survey for children and adolescents (KiGGS). Br J Clin Pharmacol 2009;68:599–608.

3. Joint Statement by the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) and the World Self Medication Industry (WSMI). [Internet]. Responsible Self-medication. 1998. [Cited January 30, 2019]. Available from: https://www.fip.org/www/uploads/database_file.php?id=241&table_id=.

Disclosure(s) Imaneh Farahani, Anna Laven, Samieh Farahani, Maira A. Deters, Martin Feickert, Fabian K. Suessenbach, Holger Schwender and Stephanie Laeer declare that they have no conflict of interest.