Development and evaluation of interprofessional high-fidelity simulation course on medication therapy consultation for German pharmacy and medical students

Abstract

The COVID19 pandemic has highlighted the indispensable role of interprofessional collaboration in addressing the complexities of modern healthcare, particularly for patients with multiple comorbidities. In response to this, interprofessional learning in medical and pharmacy education has gained momentum in Germany. To integrate collaborative practice into the pharmacy curriculum, this study developed an immersive interprofessional course incorporating adult and pediatric highfidelity simulators (HFS) to train and assess pharmacy students in medication therapy consultation in collaboration with medical students. In a randomized controlled trial, the impact of interprofessional versus monoprofessional training was assessed through objective structured clinical examinations (OSCE) and selfassessment questionnaires. Both training approaches significantly improved medication consultation skills, with the interprofessional groups demonstrating superior performance compared to the monoprofessional groups, particularly in drug therapy counselling and consultation behaviours. All study participants expressed positive attitudes toward interprofessional education. Therefore, interprofessional training using highfidelity simulation has been shown to effectively train pharmacy students for collaborative practice and medication therapy management, particularly in recognizing and addressing medicationrelated problems.