Students at this years British Pharmaceutical Students Association conference, which started this week in Bradford, carried a motion which could lead to a completely new form of registration examination.
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Students at the BPSA conference called for an end to "regurgitating facts" |
"We do not want people who can read a book, take in all the information and regurgitate it. We want pharmacists with good interpersonal and communication skills to counsel patients," she said.
Mr Christopher Jones (ex-Bath) supported the view that the current system was less than adequate and that the questions asked in the examination were often "black and white" and unrepresentative of situations faced in the pharmacy.
Ms Mary Jobling (ex-Nottingham) added that she was often shocked by the knowledge, or lack of it, of pharmacists based on the telephone calls she received during her work at the National Pharmaceutial Association's information department.
The BPSA's vice-president, Ms Lindsey McClure, argued that OSCE might more effectively be used as a training tool during training rather than a tool for assessing students' final competency. In her view, this would also eliminate some of the logistical problems associated with OSCE.
"If it is part of the training then it is up to your employer to sort it out," she said.
Ms Gill Cambell suggested that, since there seemed to be a general consensus that OSCE was a very effective way of assessing competence, it could be made an integral part of preregistration training which a candidate would have to pass before taking the multiple choice examination.
The motion was carried with 23 votes in favour, 3 votes against and 23 abstentions.