Librarians as Simulated Patients
Posted on 2017-09-26 - 23:24 authored by Madeleine Bruwer
Bruwer, M., Yazbeck, B. & Cuskelly, M. (2017, May). “Lights, Camera And... Action”. Librarians as Simulated Patients: A New Frontier for Student Skills Development . Poster presented at the 2017 Medical Library Association Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA.
Objectives: Skills development and training is an integral part of the medical librarian’s role. This poster describes a recent foray into professional communication skills development where librarians in collaboration with their learning skills counterparts act as simulated patients in the Bachelor of Pharmacy. This presents an opportunity for librarians and learning skills advisers to be recognised for their professional competencies, including interpersonal and communication skills that contribute to the development of graduate employability skills. Our goal is to equip students with the interpersonal skills required for patient-focused communication that employers value in pharmacy graduates.
Methods: In 2011, the Faculty of Pharmacy at Monash University introduced Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) into a second year core unit. OSCEs are performance based assessments that test students’ interpersonal skills and clinical knowledge in presenting them with a short clinical scenario. This involved the use of simulated patients to develop and assess interpersonal and communication skills.
Initially, our small Library team made up of librarians and learning skills advisers, was approached to participate in TOSCEs (Teaching OSCEs) as observers. Our input was well-received, as simulations are known to be resource intensive, requiring staffing and time. Since then, our role has expanded to include teaching in TOSCEs as well as acting as simulated patients in workshops throughout the semester and in the exams. Acting as a simulated patient involves using a script and prompts to simulate a real-life interaction between a pharmacist and a patient in a community or clinical setting. This also includes interprofessional communications between pharmacists and other health professionals such as general practitioners.
Results: This collaboration between faculty and library has resulted in increased engagement in the curriculum, spanning across the whole degree. As a result, we now find ourselves partnering with content specialists to teach, deliver and assess patient-focused communication skills to first year, second year and third year undergraduate students. This new role has been very successful ensuring our continued involvement and expansion into new curriculum to be introduced this year (M.Pharm).
Conclusion: This novel approach of engaging librarians and learning skills advisers in the curriculum acknowledges our professional competencies, and offers new opportunities for medical librarians to partner with faculty in preparing and developing work-ready pharmacists.
Objectives: Skills development and training is an integral part of the medical librarian’s role. This poster describes a recent foray into professional communication skills development where librarians in collaboration with their learning skills counterparts act as simulated patients in the Bachelor of Pharmacy. This presents an opportunity for librarians and learning skills advisers to be recognised for their professional competencies, including interpersonal and communication skills that contribute to the development of graduate employability skills. Our goal is to equip students with the interpersonal skills required for patient-focused communication that employers value in pharmacy graduates.
Methods: In 2011, the Faculty of Pharmacy at Monash University introduced Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) into a second year core unit. OSCEs are performance based assessments that test students’ interpersonal skills and clinical knowledge in presenting them with a short clinical scenario. This involved the use of simulated patients to develop and assess interpersonal and communication skills.
Initially, our small Library team made up of librarians and learning skills advisers, was approached to participate in TOSCEs (Teaching OSCEs) as observers. Our input was well-received, as simulations are known to be resource intensive, requiring staffing and time. Since then, our role has expanded to include teaching in TOSCEs as well as acting as simulated patients in workshops throughout the semester and in the exams. Acting as a simulated patient involves using a script and prompts to simulate a real-life interaction between a pharmacist and a patient in a community or clinical setting. This also includes interprofessional communications between pharmacists and other health professionals such as general practitioners.
Results: This collaboration between faculty and library has resulted in increased engagement in the curriculum, spanning across the whole degree. As a result, we now find ourselves partnering with content specialists to teach, deliver and assess patient-focused communication skills to first year, second year and third year undergraduate students. This new role has been very successful ensuring our continued involvement and expansion into new curriculum to be introduced this year (M.Pharm).
Conclusion: This novel approach of engaging librarians and learning skills advisers in the curriculum acknowledges our professional competencies, and offers new opportunities for medical librarians to partner with faculty in preparing and developing work-ready pharmacists.
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Bruwer, Madeleine; Yazbeck, Barbara; Cuskelly, Maxine (2017). Librarians as Simulated Patients. Monash University. Collection. https://doi.org/10.4225/03/59cae195db028
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