Exploring final year pharmacy students’ views of a peer-involved objective structured clinical examination: a survey study

Abstract Introduction Peer involvement in objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) offers opportunities for peer assessment, teaching, and reflective learning through collaborative feedback.1 Despite the reported benefits, peer-involved OSCEs are underutilised in health professions education. With limited evidence on peer-involved OSCEs in pharmacy education, a formative peer-involved OSCE was introduced for final year pharmacy students in University College Cork in 2024 to evaluate its potential curricular benefits based on student feedback. Aim To explore final year pharmacy students’ views of a peer-involved OSCE initiative. Methods Final year pharmacy students were organised into groups; each were assigned one case with actor briefs and candidate instructions for one OSCE station and had to create this station’s assessment checklist. Students rotated between the OSCE’s four stations to undertake roles as pharmacists, assessors, actors, and observers. Each station comprised one minute of reading time, five minutes of interactive time, followed by eight minutes to provide peer feedback to those in pharmacist roles. A cross-sectional anonymous online survey was administered following OSCE completion, which included questions on the OSCE’s usefulness, impact on future performance, and views on peer-to-peer feedback, as well as open comment sections. Eligible respondents comprised those who had participated in the peer-involved OSCE. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics, while qualitative responses were narratively synthesised. Results Of the 58 final year pharmacy students, 44 participated in the OSCE, all of whom completed the survey. All students found the session valuable, with most finding the session very/extremely valuable (90.9%). Nearly all agreed that the OSCE’s i) peer assessment helped enhanced their understanding of good clinical and communication skills (95.5%), ii) peer feedback received was constructive and helpful for improving performance (97.7%), and iii) opportunity to observe diverse student approaches was very/extremely useful (95.5%). Whilst most felt comfortable or very comfortable in receiving feedback from peers (90.9%), a minority (13%) believed that peer feedback could impact relationships outside the OSCE environment. Nearly all (95.5%) recommended incorporating peer-involved OSCEs into the curriculum. Findings from open comments included that the session allowed students to see OSCEs from a new perspective, with a desire for more structured guidance in OSCE checklist development. Despite a ‘more relaxed environment,’ there was still a ‘pressure to do well’ and not ‘seem incompetent’ in front of peers, whilst some found it challenging to give critical feedback due to peer relationships. Conclusion This is the first study to explore pharmacy students’ perspectives on peer-involved-OSCEs, which found that peer involvement in a formative OSCE created new viewpoints for students to enhance their skills and inform future performance. While the study’s small sample size, unidisciplinary focus, and single-site nature may limit the findings’ transferability and generalisability to other pharmacy and healthcare programs, the study is strengthened by the survey’s full response—ensuring that the findings reflect the views of all participants and reducing the risk of response bias. This study highlights the value of peer-based learning strategies for optimising OSCE pedagogy and suggests that peer-involved OSCEs could be considered for earlier integration into health professions curricula.