Salma Satchu¹
Karen Fung, Mahmoud Suleiman¹, Yuen Chu¹ and John Pugsley¹
1 Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada

The Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada (PEBC) typically assesses about 3000 pharmacy practitioner candidates each year over four separate OSCE sittings and has been successful in maintaining its in-person OSCEs through the pandemic. Recognizing the ongoing instability in OSCE delivery and residual impacts from the pandemic, PEBC sought to evaluate a virtual format of the OSCE to assess entry-to-practice competence of pharmacist candidates and the feasibility of this testing format within its certification program. Prior research on virtual OSCEs has been mostly limited to the academic setting and only a few studies have been conducted in the context of high-stakes credentialing examinations. 

The not-for-credit Virtual Performance Examination pilot assessed 92 volunteer pharmacist candidates in a fully virtual and remote-format exam using an external exam platform that was selected through a formal request-for-proposal process. Forty assessors and 45 Simulated Participants (SPs) were recruited for a single-day delivery in June 2023. All candidates were first-time test takers in the actual for-credit OSCE delivered one month prior to the pilot. The pilot exam consisted of 9 interactive and 7 rest stations, with 4 tracks running simultaneously and 2 sessions being administered through the day. A Steering Committee and an Implementation Committee were formed to plan, guide, and execute the pilot exam. The committees worked closely with the platform vendor for all preparations and the actual delivery of the exam. 

In the presentation, considerations and adaptations made to various aspects of the OSCE for the virtual transition will be discussed. These include changes to the administration and scoring processes, station content, SP and Assessor training, and participant and station materials. Data analyses are currently in progress and are expected to be completed by Fall 2023. Results on the comparability of participant experience and station performance between the virtual and in-person formats will be shared. 

References (maximum three) 

1. Tavares, W., Dichter, R., Leung, Y. C., & Huiskamp, M. (2020). A pandemic means rethinking performance-based assessments. Medical Education, 1-2.