Skills Development Using Role-Play in a First-Year Pharmacy Practice Course

To evaluate the usefulness of a role-play model in developing students' patient-care skills in a first-year undergraduate pharmacy practice course.A role-play model was developed and implemented in workshops across 2 semesters of a year-long course. Students performed different roles, including that of a pharmacist and a patient, and documented case notes in a single interaction.Student perceptions of the usefulness of the approach in acquiring skills were measured by surveying students during both semesters. All student assessments (N=130 in semester1; N=129 in semester 2) also were analyzed for skills in verbal communication, information gathering, counselling and making recommendations, and accurately documenting information. A majority of students found the approach useful in developing skills. An analysis of student assessments revealed that role-playing was not as effective in building skills related to accurate documentation as it was in other areas of patient care.Role play is useful for developing patient-care skills in communication and information gathering but not for documentation of case notes.