Question:
I'm worried about the high stakes OSCEs in the 3B term. I don't think I did well on the OSCE this term (3A). Is there anything I can do to improve/prepare?
Response:
I assume that at this point you have seen your results. You may have done better than you thought! If you still feel disappointed with your results, no worries! Take a look at your report and see where you may have missed a few points here and there. Those will be the best indicators as to where you should focus on. You can also always speak with Cynthia if needed. I have a few general comments below:
OSCEs come with practice, but not necessarily therapeutic knowledge. You were already taught about whatever you need to know from IPFC / PPL. It’s somewhere in your brain; you might just need some resources to help you tease it out. My advice is to focus more on knowing how and where to find the information that you need. I find that many students are spending the bulk of their time flipping through pages and trying to find a certain section (especially with the CPS).
Also, practice with someone! Doesn’t have to be with another pharmacy student necessarily. There are two ways I like to practice. First, I like randomly opening up the CPS (borrow from library) to a random page and counselling another individual about it. It’s even better if it’s a drug you’ve never heard of since it will give you better practice on how finding information quickly. Second, there are a ton of patient cases online that you can use to practice. They’re not all great, but you can easily modify them or search for others that are more suitable. Timing yourself is also a good idea.
I guess my last tidbit is a bit twisted: learn to be comfortable with not knowing or remembering everything. I know this causes stress, but nobody else knows everything either. OSCEs prepare you for real-life counselling situations. You may not always know what to do, but you will know where to find information and how to use it to therapeutically benefit your real and fake patients.
Hope that helps a bit.