Application of case-based study promoting the outcome-based education concept in clinical pharmacotherapeutic teaching: a pre-post study with implications for medical educator development

Background Although outcome-based education (OBE) and case-based study (CBS) are commonly used in health professions education, there are ongoing issues with the standardization of faculty evaluation rubrics and the integration of teaching with core competencies. This study aimed to rectify these issues in clinical pharmacotherapeutic education. Methods A total of 78 undergraduate clinical pharmacy students participated in this pre–post study. Teaching effectiveness was assessed using a novel, standardized OBE scoring rubric for teacher evaluations, alongside student self-assessments of engagement. Results Significant improvements were observed between the first case study session and the final case study session across four main aspects in this study ( p < 0.001): case reporting, PPT creation and presentation, question answering, and citation ability. Students’ self-scores confirmed significantly higher learning initiative and participation in the OBE-based CBS practical segment compared to the traditional theoretical teaching segment ( p < 0.001). Notably, course interest increased significantly to 92.31% (vs. 74.36%, p = 0.003). These results showed that the standardized rubric effectively translated abstract OBE concepts into measurable teaching behaviors. Conclusion The OBE-based CBS model, supported by a validated scoring system, effectively bridging the gap between knowledge and practice. This framework offers medical educators a replicable tool for standardizing curricula and monitoring quality.