Objective: To evaluate pharmacy students' preferences for various types of simulated patients.
Methods: Second-professional year (P2) pharmacy students participated in 7 learning activities that used simulated patients including community volunteers, College administrative staff, course instructors, and student peers. Students ranked each simulated patient type according to believability, skill development, and preference using a 5-point Likert scale.
Results: One-hundred seven of 155 students (69%) completed the survey instrument. Students preferred community volunteers as simulated patients (mean rank 1.39), followed by peers (2.22), instructors (2.63), and staff members (2.81) (p < 0.001). Greater than 89% agreed or strongly agreed that their work with simulated patients prepared them for actual patients, with community volunteers receiving the highest ratings (p < 0.03).
Conclusions: Although pharmacy students found value in interactions will all types of simulated patients, they preferred community volunteers over staff members and their peers. Future scholarship should explore the relationship among simulated patient types and student learning outcomes.
Keywords: practice laboratory; simulated patient; survey.