Implementation of pharmacy practice laboratory skills using standardized patients

The learning outcome of laboratory skills in pharmacy practice is the competency of students in drug dispensing ideally completed with authentic cases in a pharmacy (experiential learning) and the involvement of standardized patients to represent an authentic/real-world learning process. To examine students’ perception of the involvement of standardized patients and to examine the influence of experiential learning with standardized patients on the learning outcome of laboratory skills in pharmacy practice. This research involved 12 standardized patients in two treatment classes and three control classes. The standardized patients were given a scenario of the cases found in an authentic pharmacy practice consisting of self-medication and prescription services. The students identified the problems found in a patient’s prescription and provided information related to the medication administered to the patient. The assessment was given by the lecturer and assistant to the students for their overall performance, dispensing practice, and perception of the learning process. This study shows that ≥ 80 % students positively perceived the involvement of standardized patients. The implementation of experiential learning by involving standardized patients improved 87.25 % students’ learning outcomes with 84.5% good performance in prescription service and 90% good performance in self- medication service. The implementation of experiential learning by involving standardized patients influenced the learning outcome of laboratory skills in pharmacy practice.