I t's the Catch-22 of clinical education. You can memorize theory, chapter and verse, but you need to work with actual patients to become an accomplished healer. Alas, that process often entails trial and error, and no patient wants mistakes where their health is concerned. And the prospect of making a mistake can be absolutely terrifying to PharmD students. Give novice PharmD students an opportunity to learn and practice their clinical skills in a realistic context, but not on live patients.
Material is presented as a series of skill-building exercises.
Each exercise ends with questions testing how well students have mastered the knowledge they've just been presented. Currently, we present information about a topic in class and then assign the modules as homework. These modules allow students to work within simulated but realistic clinical situations. Since the modules are case-based, students apply the material taught in class directly to realistic clinical cases. The development of clinical skills requires hands-on practice, and the modules simulate this surprisingly well.