Remote OSCE Experience: What First Year Pharmacy Students Liked, Learned, and Suggested for Future Implementations

Sep 20, 2026

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many pharmacy programs shifted teaching and assessment online, including a 3-station remote Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) for first-year students in Spring 2020. The next day, 156 of 157 students completed three open-text prompts (“I liked…”, “I learned…”, and “I suggest…”). Responses were open-coded and analyzed with frequency counts and concept maps. Themes for Liked, Learned, and Suggest centered on logistics, differences between in-person and remote, technology and communication, and support for continued remote OSCEs. Overall reception was positive and linked to future pharmacy practice, with recommendations to study design, implementation, and outcomes.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages10

Reading Time25 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

pharmacy Article Remote OSCE Experience: What First Year Pharmacy Students Liked, Learned, and Suggested for Future Implementations Amanda Savage 1,2,*, Lana M. Minshew 1,2, Heidi N. Anksorus 1 and Jacqueline E. McLaughlin 1,2 􀀁􀀂􀀃􀀁􀀄 􀀆􀀇􀀈 􀀁􀀂􀀃􀀄􀀅􀀆􀀇 Citation: Savage, A.; Minshew, L.M.; Anksorus, H.N.; McLaughlin, J.E. Remote OSCE Experience: What First Year Pharmacy Students Liked, Learned, and Suggested for Future Implementations. Pharmacy 2021, 9, 62. [https://doi.org/10.3390/](https://doi.org/10.3390/)[ ](https://doi.org/10.3390/)pharmacy9010062 Academic Editor: Vivienne Mak 1 UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7355, USA; [minshew@live.unc.edu](minshew@live.unc.edu) (L.M.M.); [hanksoru@email.unc.edu](hanksoru@email.unc.edu) (H.N.A.); [jacqui_mclaughlin@unc.edu](jacqui_mclaughlin@unc.edu) (J.E.M.) 2 Center for Innovative Pharmacy Education and Research, UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7355, USA * Correspondence: [asavage@unc.edu](asavage@unc.edu); Tel.: +1-828-250-3903 Abstract: During the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, many schools quickly transitioned their teaching and assessment strategies to online formats. In Spring 2020, a 3-station remote Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) was implemented for ﬁrst-year pharmacy students. The day following the remote OSCEs students answered three open-text prompts about the remote OSCE experience: (1)“I liked...”, (2)“I learned . . . ”, and (3)“I suggest . . . ”. Responses were open-coded and frequency counts were calculated to determine the most prevalent codes. Concept maps were created to visualize and explore connections between the codes. Out of 157 students, 156 students completed the reﬂection assignment, a 99.36% response rate. The three major themes in the Liked data were: Logistics (n = 65, 41.7%), Differences In-person Versus Remote (n = 59, 37.8%), and Skill Development (n = 43, 27.6%) . The three major themes in the Learned data were: Technology (n = 66, 42.3%), Communication (n = 58, 37.2%), and Skill Development (n = 56, 35.9%) . The three major themes in the Suggest data were: Logistics (n = 89, 57.1%), Technology (n = 31, 19.9%), and Continuation of Remote OSCE (n = 31, 19.9%) . Overall, the remote OSCE experience was well-received, and students described it as applicable to their future pharmacy practice. Future work should explore the design, implementation, and outcomes of remote OSCEs. Keywords: OSCE; telehealth; remote; student perceptions Received: 30 January 2021 Accepted: 16 March 2021 Published: 18 March 2021 Publisher's Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional afﬁliations. Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license ([https://](https://)[ ](https://)[creativecommons.org/licenses/by/](creativecommons.org/licenses/by/)[ ](creativecommons.org/licenses/by/)[4.0/](4.0/)) . 1. Introduction The Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) is widely used in schools of pharmacy across the United States and internationally [1] . Harden deﬁned the OSCE asan “approach to the assessment of clinical competence in which the components of the competence are assessed in a planned or structured way with attention being paid to the objectivity of the examination” [2] . OSCEs are a valued form of performance-based assessment in health sciences education because the focus is on evaluating both clinical skills and knowledge and typically involves students rotating through a series of stations where one or two aspects of competence are assessed at each station [2] . In the spring of 2020, during the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, many schools and universities quickly transitioned their teaching strat

FAQs

What remote OSCE format was implemented for first-year pharmacy students in Spring 2020?

A 3-station remote Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) was implemented for first-year pharmacy students.

How were students’ reflections about the remote OSCE analyzed?

Students answered three open-text prompts, and responses were open-coded with frequency counts; concept maps were used to visualize connections among codes.

What major themes did students report for what they liked, learned, and suggested?

For “liked,” logistics, differences versus in-person, and skill development were most prominent. For “learned,” technology and communication led, alongside skill development. For “suggest,” logistics and technology were major, with interest in continuing remote OSCEs.

Sep 20, 2026

Upload by McGucket