Development and Implementation of an Objective Structured Clinical Examination Program in a College of Pharmacy: A Three-Year Experience

The Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) is a performance based assessment tool widely used to evaluate clinical competence in healthcare education.Although several pilot studies have examined the feasibility of pharmacy OSCEs in South Korea, reports describing the long term implementation and operation of institution-based OSCE programs remain limited.This study describes the development, implementation, and refinement of an in-house OSCE program conducted between 2023 and 2025 at a college of pharmacy.The program was initially developed for fifth-year students before advanced pharmacy practice experiences and was expanded to include sixth-year students following completion of externships.The OSCE program evolved from a five-station format with 10-minute stations in 2023 to a nine-to ten-station format with 5-minute stations in subsequent years.Assessment domains included prescription verification, prescription counseling, self-care counseling, drug information services, clinical pharmacy services, and patient assessment.A peer-assisted model utilizing pharmacy students as standardized patients and assistants was implemented.Continuous modifications of station structure, assessment domains, and operational procedures improved the feasibility and sustainability of the program.Challenges identified during implementation included assessment tool validation, evaluator standardization, and long-term sustainability of personnel and financial support.The study demonstrates the feasibility of implementing and maintaining a pharmacy OSCE program within a college of pharmacy using available institutional resources.The experience gained through this three-year program may provide practical guidance for other pharmacy schools seeking to develop competency-based clinical performance assessments.Further studies are needed to establish the validity, reliability, and educational impact of pharmacy OSCE programs.