Review of Teaching Methods for Pharmacy Clinical Skills Among Healthcare Students: a Systematic Review

Abstract Since a variety of clinical skills are necessary for healthcare professionals to provide the best patient care, it is important to explore how these skills are taught, especially in pharmacy education, as pharmacists are often the patient's first point of contact. The study's goal was to conduct a systematic literature review to determine the prevalence of simulation-based teaching in developing pharmacy clinical skills among healthcare students. The results covered six publications around simulation as a teaching-learning technique for health professionals. Teaching institutions, hospitals, and pharmacies can use the findings from this study to improve healthcare education, ensuring that pharmacists efficiently apply their clinical skills and knowledge in real-life scenarios. This study revealed that simulation-based teaching was repeatedly demonstrated to improve competency in many areas, as well as the perceived level of trust, speaking out loud behaviours, communication, and teamwork. However, it did not significantly raise students' overall level of knowledge and therefore should be complemented with other teaching methods like tutorials and workshops to ensure a better understanding of the subject. In conclusion, simulation was commonly used by teaching institutions and it should be integrated with self-study and traditional methods such as lectures to fully consolidate knowledge.