STANDARDIZED PATIENTS - AN ABILITY-BASED OUTCOMES ASSESSMENT FOR THE EVALUATION OF CLINICAL SKILLS IN TRADITIONAL AND NONTRADITIONAL EDUCATION

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to describe the developme nt of our Pharmaceutical Care Encounters Program (PCEP); and second, t o present student performance data measured using the PCEP and the rel ated reliability and validity data. This PCEP utilizes standardized pa tients as an evaluation method to assess clinical skills associated wi th an adult medicine experiential clerkship. The PCEP requires student s to demonstrate the ability to perform clinically-based practice comp etencies. Therefore, this evaluation utilizing standardized patients e pitomizes an ability-based outcomes measurement. The data generated ca n serve as a continuous quality control measure between clerkships, en suring each site teaches necessary skills for the performance of pharm aceutical care. Further, this method can be used to evaluate students' problem-solving. For schools with a nontraditional track, the PCEP ca n document parity between the educational pathways. Standardized patie nt use may prove to be the most comprehensive means of evaluating clin ical skills in pharmaceutical education.