Creation of an active learning healthcare communications course using simulations relevant to pharmacy practice

The purpose of this project was to design and develop a health care communications course built around practice-like simulations and active learning in the first year of a professional pharmacy program. A three-credit health care communications course was divided into one didactic (two hours per week) and three simulation components (one hour per week). The simulation components consisted of one written patient education pamphlet, three group presentations, and three one-on-one patient counseling sessions. This was accomplished by breaking the class of approximately 75 students into eight separate sections, each consisting of 8–10 students and one instructor. Each week four sections were devoted to counseling role-plays: half in the role of pharmacists and half as patients. The other four sections were devoted to hour-long professional group presentations—half in the presenting group and half as audience. The students’ performance in the simulated counseling sessions and group presentations has been tracked and analyzed to determine if the simulated exercises had a positive impact on the students’ active communications skills. Consistently, over the first four years of the implementation of the course, students’ communications skills, as measured by faculty assessments, in both professional group presentations and one-on-one counseling sessions significantly improved. Incorporation of active-learning simulation exercises into a healthcare communications course has a positive impact on the development of students’ communications skills. This creates a foundation upon which students can build over the remainder of the professional program and into their future careers.