Comprehensive assessment of reliability and validity for the clinical cases in simulated community pharmacy

Abstract

Background: The objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) is used to measure the clinical competence of pharmacy students in a community pharmacy setup. However, the OSCE needs to be standardised to assess the clinical competence of the student accurately.    Objectives: The present study was aimed to assess the reliability and validity of two clinical cases used in the simulated community pharmacy.   Methods: OSCE simulation was performed by the students with two clinical cases in a simulated community pharmacy. The reliability was measured using Cronbach’s α and Mc Donald’s ω. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were used to measure the validity of the cases.    Results: Among the two cases, the first case scenario was found to have a good model fit. However, the second case scenario has a poor model fit which was determined by the CFA. The inadequate sample size and factor loading in EFA were the main reasons for poor model fit in the second case scenario.    Conclusion: The internal consistency, sample adequacy, factor loading, test for an exact fit, and fit measurements should be ensured for the clinical cases included in OSCE. This will help the academician to ensure the accurate assessment of the clinical competence of the student in a simulated community pharmacy.