Background: Many studies have supported the use of standardized patients (SPs) to evaluate medical students and residents in the context of an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE). However, the psychometric impact of using students as patients and raters has been studied very little, and not at all in pharmacy.
Purpose: The study investigated the quantitative impact of using 1st-year pharmacy students as SPs.
Methods: The psychometric properties of an OSCE for senior pharmacy students were compared when 1st-year students versus SPs were used to portray the cases.
Results: The reliability and validity of faculty and patient ratings were largely unaffected by the use of 1st-year students rather than SPs to perform the patient roles.
Conclusions: Using 1st-year students is psychometrically feasible and may provide learning benefits to the student participants