Pharmacy Students' Insights on Assessment Tools and Their Predictive Value in Evaluating Clinical Competencies

Introduction: The assessment of clinical competency models is tailored to evaluate the academic performance and organization capabilities and whether the purpose is formative or summative. Competency-based curriculum for pharmacy students, focusing on core competencies with formative and summative evaluations. This study aimed to explore pharmacy students’ insights on assessment tools and the predictive value in evaluating clinical competencies at the University of Gondar. Method A cross-sectional survey was conducted to explore the students' attitudes and insights towards assessment approaches in pharmacy education. Comparative descriptive was used in describing students' perception towards the assessment approaches and instruments utilized in the modularized competency-based curriculum for pharmacy students. A comparative repeated measure was conducted across multiple assessment instruments to evaluate perceived difficulty, fairness, degree of learning and preferred frequency of use, using the Friedman test. Result A total of 135 students approached, and 118 participated in this study (response rate 87.4%). About 64%) were regular and fifth-year clerkship undergraduate students. The formative assessment approach was perceived to enhance confidence (59%) and motivation to study (50%). Conversely, more than half (53%) of students reported that question-spotting was their primary strategy for preparing for written exams. Additionally, more than 47% believed that study materials required for written exams were excessive and they felt that module grades often overly rely on single, one-time written exams. Also, many students (68%) agreed with the utilization and objectivity of OSCE in assessing clinical competencies, they rated it as difficult to perform each OSCE. Conclusion This survey revealed students prefer formative assessments for improving performance, motivation, and confidence, while summative assessments determine grades through one-time exams. The OSCE is effective yet challenging for clinical competency assessment, guiding the selection of assessment methods and highlighting potential difficulties and acceptability of assessment approaches.