The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 270 No 7253 p816
14 June 2003

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NHS Kent, Surrey and Sussex
Workforce Development Confederation (www.kssconfederation.co.uk)

Hospital trainees put their clinical skills to the test

Around 90 pharmacy preregistration trainees from south east England were put through a structured examination of their clinical skills last week as part of a growing educational trend.

Trainees from the South East (South Coast) National Health Service area attended an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's headquarters in London on 6 June. Each of the 46 trainees had to complete 16 tasks, with seven minutes allowed for each task. Tasks included looking for information in reference sources, discussions with mock patients and doctors, performing calculations, checking prescriptions, taking medication histories and making dispensing accuracy checks.

Alice Conway, preregistration training facilitator for South East (South Coast) NHS Education and Training, told The Journal: "This examination is not a pass or fail event in itself. It confirms impressions of in-house performance." The trainees will sit the Society's registration examination this summer.

A parallel session for around 45 hospital trainees in the south Thames area was held in London on the same day. The OSCE scheme is also used in the East Anglia area.