Background:
There is a growing need for assessment approaches that authentically evaluate students’ conceptual understanding, reasoning, and readiness for practice. Objective Structured Practical Examinations (OSPEs) offer a promising strategy to make learning visible by assessing how students apply and justify knowledge in practice-relevant contexts1.
Methods:
OSPEs were implemented in a large, second-year pharmacology unit/course (n=153 students) as a summative assessment aligned with program learning outcomes. Multiple stations were designed to assess scientific reasoning, data interpretation, decision-making, laboratory-related competencies, and communication. Students engaged with authentic pharmacological scenarios requiring justification of decisions under time constraints. Examiner calibration, structured marking rubrics, and targeted student preparation activities were embedded to support reliability and transparency. The assessment was intentionally designed to make student learning visible by capturing how students apply, justify, and communicate their pharmacological knowledge.
Results:
OSPEs enabled richer insights into student learning compared to traditional written assessments, revealing strengths and gaps in conceptual understanding, reasoning processes, and practical application. Student feedback (77% response rate) indicated that 78% agreed or strongly agreed that the OSPE assessed skills relevant to professional practice, and 72% reported that it required deeper understanding than traditional exams. Examiner feedback highlighted improved visibility of student thinking and greater confidence in assessing capability and practice readiness. While logistical complexity and examiner workload noted challenges, these were mitigated through careful planning and examiner preparation.
Discussion:
OSPEs represent a transformative assessment approach for science-based curriculum that supports future-ready graduates by shifting assessment focus from knowledge reproduction to visible learning, reasoning, and performance. In the GenAI era, OSPEs provide a robust, authentic, and scalable strategy for assessing capability and practice readiness in pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences education.

1. Karunaratne, N., Exintaris, B., Zhou, E., Pyun, J., Budzyn, K., & Lim, A. (2025). A pilot trial of objective structured practical examinations (OSPEs) in non-vocational science-based degrees. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 62(6), 1874–1889. https://doi.org/10.1080/14703297.2024.2435022
2. Coubrough, K.; Tinto, K.; Wahid, M.; Kelly-Laubscher, R.; Cunningham, M.; (2025) Using Objective Structured Practical Examinations (OSPEs) to Identify Knowledge Gaps in Pharmacology Undergraduates. In: 11th International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAd’25). Valencia, 17-20 June 2025.

Background: Interruptions and distractions during pharmacist dispensing are known to account for approximately 9.4% of medication errors, occurring as frequently as every two to six minutes. Such disruptions divert attention, prevent task completion, and pose significant risks to performance, accuracy, and patient safety. Using scenarios that reflect real-world interruptions can help prepare pharmacy students for these challenges. Furthermore, understanding the strategies pharmacists employ to cope with interruptions can inform the development of best practices for student training. This study aimed to explore the impact of interruptions and distractions on task prioritisation and the clinical decision-making ability of pharmacists by using interrupted scenarios in MyDispense.
Methods: Twenty-four pharmacists with prior experience using MyDispense participated in the study. A convergent mixed-methods design, informed by Cognitive Load Theory, was used. Quantitative data were collected during a 30-minute interrupted scenario, and semi-structured interviews explored pharmacists’ experiences of interruptions, task prioritisation, and coping strategies. Interview transcripts were analysed thematically, and quantitative data were summarised using descriptive statistics.
Results: Only one-third of participants completed the scenario, and 66.7% prioritised tasks incorrectly. Most participants made the correct decision to dispense; however, key steps such as fact-finding and labelling were often incomplete. Counselling was particularly limited across all cases. Qualitative analysis identified seven themes. Most participants reported that interruptions, such as phone calls, are frequent, disrupt focus, and significantly impact dispensing accuracy and patient safety. They cite task allocation as a primary mitigation strategy and mainly prioritise tasks by order.
Conclusion: The qualitative findings helped explain the quantitative results, showing how interruptions reduced focus and increased mental effort during task completion. These findings suggest that interruptions affect pharmacists ‘performance, workflow, and perceived patient safety, and can inform the design of more realistic interrupted scenarios in MyDispense to better prepare students for real-world practice.

Background and Aim
The rise of generative AI tools has introduced major challenges for academic integrity and authentic learning in higher education, reshaping approaches to teaching and assessment. The Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at Monash University has initiated the PAAIR (Programmatic Assessment and AI Review) project, a two-year university-wide strategic review of assessment design across the curriculum to reshape and redefine assessment. The project aims to create a cohesive, integration of AI and secure, visible assessments throughout the pharmacy curriculum using a programmatic approach.
Methods:
Units were clustered into themes to align with programmatic principles and manage workload. The initial 2025 pilot focused on six first and second-year units in the pharmacy course. Seven collaborative workshops, self and peer reviews, and curriculum mapping were conducted to critically evaluate AI-related teaching and assessment practices. Assessments were mapped to identify programmatic themes and ensure alignment with learning outcomes and professional standards.
Results:
Collaborating with a senior educational designer, educators from the six units have shifted focus from single assessment events to a coordinated suite of diverse assessment tasks mapped to learning outcomes, professional standards and broad competency development. Reported outcomes included deeper understanding of the student learning journey and improved confidence in addressing AI through authentic assessment design.
Discussion and Conclusion:
Programmatic approaches to assessment design across the Pharmacy curriculum effectively mitigates AI-related risks while promoting authentic, competency-driven learning. This approach offers an educational framework for other units in 2026 and a scalable model for other Pharmacy programs. Future work will provide a holistic programmatic view of student learning and assessment design across the whole curriculum.
Innovation and Novelty:
This study introduces a curriculum-wide programmatic approach to address AI challenges through integrated, authentic assessment design, offering a framework adaptable across diverse higher education contexts.

Background
Pharmacy education lacks an agreed-upon list of core concepts¹ (CCs), the big ideas that experts agree students must understand and apply across various drug and disease contexts to deliver effective pharmacotherapy, despite curricular overload and integration challenges. Evidence from 25+ higher education fields shows that identifying and utilising CCs facilitates domain-specific thinking, problem-solving in novel scenarios and curriculum prioritisation.² Despite established frameworks and resources guiding pharmacy education, there are limited resources that support this conceptual learning of pharmacotherapy. This study aimed to identify and obtain consensus on pharmacotherapy CCs in a national and international context for initial pharmacy training.

Method
A biphasic mixed-methods design was used in an Australian and international context. Phase One generated potential CCs through textbook analysis and educator brainstorming. Phase Two used a modified Delphi technique with pharmacotherapy educators. Round one evaluated CCs against five criteria¹ with a three-facet Rasch measurement analysis. Round two assessed consensus via percentage agreement.

Result
In the Australian context, 21 CCs achieved ≥85% consensus among 9 educators from 7 schools of pharmacy, with 16 CCs reaching 100% agreement, including medication-related problems and patient-centred care. For Delphi round 1 of the international context, involving 25 educators from 16 countries, 45 potential CCs achieved ≥80% based on adjusted fair-average ratings, including clinical decision-making, medication-related problems, and rational prescribing. Round two for consensus development is ongoing. Some convergent concepts across both contexts include medication-related problems and evidence-based care, while divergent concepts include cultural safety (Australia) and high-risk situations (international).

Conclusion
Identifying CCs is a first step towards meaningful conceptual learning in pharmacotherapy within pharmacy education. These CCs are not prescriptive but can support educators in developing an enduring understanding in students, alongside existing frameworks, and inform curriculum design, content prioritisation and assessment.

References
¹White PJ, Davis EA, Santiago M, Angelo T, Shield A, Babey AM, et al. Identifying the core concepts of pharmacology education. Pharmacol Res Perspect. 2021;9(4):e00836.

²Etukakpan AU, Waldhuber MG, Janke KK, Netere AK, Angelo T, White PJ. Core concept identification in STEM and related domain education: a scoping review of rationales, methods, and outputs. Frontiers in Education. 2025;10.

Background: Online simulations, such as MyDispense, have been widely used to teach clinical skills in pharmacy programs. However, the utilisation of MyDispense to teach therapeutic decision-making skills in Indonesia is still underexplored. This study aims to evaluate student performance in therapeutic decision-making after the implementation of a MyDispense-based online module at an Indonesian university.

Methods: Third-year pharmacy students in an Indonesian university were invited to participate in an online module designed to teach therapeutic decision-making skills relevant to a Pharmacotherapy course. The module consisted of three MyDispense exercises and supporting learning activities, such as group worksheets, in Moodle. Students received relevant worksheet examples and MyDispense feedback after each activity. Outcomes data were collected, including online module case-based quiz answers and learning assessments from relevant Pharmacotherapy units. Free-text quiz responses were analysed using content analysis, while quantitative data from the quiz and pharmacotherapy unit assessments were summarised descriptively. Mann-Whitney U tests were also conducted to compare performance in Pharmacotherapy assessments for online module participants and non-participants.

Results: Twenty-six pharmacy students voluntarily participated in the online module, while 132 and 131 students served as non-participants for the OSCE and Pharmacotherapy exam comparisons, respectively. Of 25 free-text responses in the online module quiz, five (20%) participants could apply therapeutic decision-making steps to solve the case, while six (24%) participants wrote all steps without sufficiently connecting them to the case. The mean overall OSCE score was lower for participants than non-participants (53.2 ± 19.7 vs. 60.26 ± 22.19), but the data collection domain score was higher (3.20 ± 1.04 vs. 2.89 ± 1.10). Student performance in the pharmacotherapy unit exam was higher than that of non-participants (63.42 ± 11.45 vs. 62.33 ± 10.80). However, the differences in student OSCE and exam performance were not statistically significant.

Conclusions: While the findings were not statistically significant, the MyDispense-based online module showed potential for teaching therapeutic decision-making to Indonesian pharmacy students. Further research is needed to confirm the findings and improve future implementation.

Background and Statement of Aim(s):
The evolving landscape of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences education calls for transformative teaching strategies that move beyond traditional didactic methods toward learner-centered, integrative and practice-ready approaches. Game-based learning has emerged as a promising pedagogical tool to enhance engagement, motivation, and conceptual understanding. This pilot project aims to design and evaluate a board game as an innovative learning intervention to foster deeper conceptual connections, active participation, and collaborative learning among undergraduate pharmacy students in chemistry.

Methods:
A design-based research framework was adopted, encompassing three phases: (i) conceptual design informed by educational theory and curriculum mapping, (ii) prototype development and iterative playtesting, and (iii) pilot implementation and evaluation. The study employs a mixed-methods approach combining pre- and post-intervention surveys to measure changes in engagement and self-efficacy, alongside focus group interviews to explore learner perceptions and cognitive engagement. Quantitative data will be analyzed using paired statistical tests, and qualitative data will undergo thematic analysis.

Results:
Preliminary observations from prototype testing suggest enhanced student engagement and increased confidence in connecting theoretical knowledge with problem-solving tasks. Early data also indicate the game’s potential to promote active learning, peer collaboration, and reflective thinking. Comprehensive findings from the pilot implementation will be presented, focusing on the educational value and feasibility of integrating game-based learning within the pharmaceutical sciences curriculum.

Discussion and/or Conclusion:
This pilot project demonstrates the potential of game-based learning as a scalable and sustainable approach to reimagining how complex scientific concepts are taught in higher education. By embedding interactivity and cognitive challenge within a collaborative framework, the intervention contributes to the broader goal of developing future-ready graduates equipped with problem-solving, communication, and critical-thinking skills.

Background
Effective clinical communication is essential for pharmacy practice, yet traditional face-to-face training methods face scalability limitations (1). Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) platforms offer opportunities for students to practice clinical communication through realistic, repeatable interactions (2). Using the Professional Communication in Intercultural Contexts (PCIC) framework, clinical communication can be examined across logical (clinical reasoning), emotional (rapport building), and moral (professionalism) dimensions (3). This study aimed to examine how communication trajectories across these dimensions evolve with extended practice using a GenAI patient simulation platform, ATLAS.

Methods
A retrospective cohort study analysed 2,214 transcripts from 346 pharmacy students (230 Australian, 116 Malaysian) who interacted with avatars on the ATLAS platform. Transcripts underwent summative content analysis using the PCIC framework to quantify logical, emotional, and moral communication themes. Linear mixed models (LMM) examined: trajectories across sequential attempts, within-avatar learning through repetition, and knowledge transfer across avatar variety. Analyses were conducted by campus, with exploratory subgroup analysis by gender, student status, and English language L1/L2.

Results
Over sequential attempts, Australian students showed initial logical gains (attempts 1-3) then decreases (β=-0.35, p=0.002), particularly in females (β=-0.49, p<0.001), with increasing moral trajectories (β=0.67, p<0.001) and stable emotional patterns. Malaysian students showed increasing moral trajectories (β=0.36, p<0.001) and modest emotional increases (β=0.10, p=0.013), but stable logical patterns. When repeating the same avatar, logical themes increased in both campus cohorts (AUS β=8.53, MY β=3.24, both p<0.001). Moral themes improved with repetitions in Australian students (β=1.37, p<0.001), but not in Malaysian students. Emotional themes did not improve with repetition in either campus. Diverse avatar practice enhanced moral and emotional dimensions more than logical dimensions across both campuses.

Discussion
PCIC analysis revealed distinct communication trajectories across logical, emotional, and moral dimensions, with differences by practice type and campus. These findings highlight the need for differentiated clinical communication training approaches tailored to campus contexts. Future research should investigate underlying pedagogical and cultural factors and incorporate multimodal communication analysis including non-verbal cues, prosody, filler words, and silences.

References
1. Brown C, et al. Med Teach. 2015;37(7):653-659.
2. Karabacak M, et al. JMIR Med Educ. 2023;9:e48163.
3. Dai DW. Lang Cult Curric. 2024;37(4):435-455.

Background
Entrustment-supervision scales (ES), used to assess Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs), have been adopted in Australian pharmacy education. However, inconsistencies persist in making entrustment decisions among assessors. This may be due to a lack of overt language of trust within existing scales and the absence of pharmacy-specific validity evidence. The authors aimed to assess the reliability of an adapted ES, embedding language of trust, to support more consistent entrustment decisions.

Methods
An ES was developed in consultation with a linguistic expert and pharmacist educators using a two-round survey to establish content and face validity. Community and hospital pharmacists directly involved in the supervision of pre-registrant pharmacists from 2023 onwards with experience using ES were then invited to participate in an anonymous online survey. Respondents made entrustment decisions using three standardised vignettes (developed de novo) for the counselling EPA using the ES. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse trends and compare ratings. Interrater reliability was determined using intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and internal consistency was measured using Cronbach’s alpha. Thematic analysis of narrative comments was performed.

Results
Twenty-six pharmacists (community n=14; hospital n=12) with a mean 12.8 (SD 5.8) years of practicing experience completed the survey. Entrustment level distributions across all vignettes demonstrated variability ranging from 1 (observation) to 4 (independent practice). The ICC indicated strong agreement among respondents (ICC (2,k)=0.984, 95% CI [0.938-1.000]) and Cronbach’s alpha of 0.992 demonstrated strong internal consistency. Narrative feedback corresponded with the entrustment level selected.

Discussion
An ES embedding more overt language of trust demonstrated reliability and internal consistency amongst pharmacist supervisors. The developed ES may be useful to improve the consistency of making entrustment decisions. Future studies should explore the implementation of the ES using authentic workplace cases within a work-integrated learning environment.