A Virtual Patient Software Program to Improve Pharmacy Student Learning in a Comprehensive Disease Management Course

Objective. To implement and assess the impact of a virtual patient pilot program on pharmacy students’ clinical competence skills.Design. Pharmacy students completed interactive software-based patient case scenarios embedded with drug-therapy problems as part of a course requirement at the end of their third year.Assessment. Assessments included drug-therapy problem competency achievement, performance on a pretest and posttest, and pilot evaluation survey instrument. Significant improvements in students’ posttest scores demonstrated advancement of clinical skills involving drug-therapy problem solving. Students agreed that completing the pilot program improved their chronic disease management skills and the program summarized the course series well.Conclusion. Using virtual patient technology allowed for assessment of student competencies and improved learning outcomes.