One of the roles that pharmacists play in the public health system is that of frontline healthcare professionals. Particularly in community pharmacies, they are often the first port of call for patients with a wide range of health problems.

That means as well as knowing how to treat a problem, they need to figure out what the problem is in the first place. Part of that is honing their analytical and people skills so they get all of the relevant information.

That’s why a big part of our training involves Objective Structured Clinical Examinations, or “OSCEs” for short. OSCEs are role play situations where students interact with a simulated patient to diagnose them and recommend a treatment.

This is what one looks like: