Pharmacy educator Thuy Mason, Kingston University, invites you to reflect on if your simulations are authentic, inclusive and assessment-ready, giving every student the immediate personalised feedback they need to thrive?
Ahead of the game
Back in 2013, long before “simulation-based learning” became a buzzword in pharmacy education, I set out to build something that anticipates the profession’s needs before the standards were even written.
It wasn’t driven by mandate or compliance, but by a simple question: if communication is a safety skill, why treat it like a side quest?
Armed with little more than a phone line and a clear vision, I created a bespoke approach to communication training, designed to create lasting, scalable impact in healthcare.
Eight years later, in 2021, the standards arrived, when experiential learning was formally mandated by our pharmacy regulator, the GPhC (1).
The framework I’d embedded nearly a decade earlier didn’t need to change; it remains aligned with the vision, designed to develop future-ready pharmacists through my 5 Cs: Communication, Calculation, Consultation, Clinical decision-making and Critical thinking. Not just knowledge, but performance under pressure.
Moving beyond one-size-fits-all teaching, this approach uses real-life scenarios and personalised feedback to create an inclusive space where every student can practise, reflect and grow. It builds applied knowledge, boosts confidence for clinical assessments like the Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) and empowers students who often struggle in large groups.
Flipping the script
The spark came from placement whispers: “Great students… but they really need to work on their communication.”
Back then, we were ‘teaching’ communication…sort of. One lecture. Two workshops. A few brave volunteers acting out scenarios while others avoided eye contact, hoping not to be asked next. For those without English as a first language, it was even tougher. I recognised that feeling, because I’d lived it. And I knew we could do better.
So I redesigned the approach. First came the foundation: clinical knowledge, background reading and calculation skills. Then came the switch – a session where every student had to play. (2)
One-to-one calls with a “prescriber” (a tutor). No observers, no opt-outs, just real pressure with immediate, personalised feedback. Inclusive by design, it gave every student space to grow, especially those less likely to speak up in a group.
The topic? Iron salts. Simple on the surface, deceptively complex underneath, perfectly capturing the 5 Cs, all under real-time pressure.
I structured each call slightly differently. This wasn’t variation for variation’s sake, it was deliberate. Each scenario was carefully designed: different iron salts, varying between prophylactic and therapeutic dosing, or formulation switches.
Active listening became essential to responding with confidence, clarity and care.
Even at scale, every student had a distinct experience, achieved by training peers to co-deliver the calls while maintaining the same unpredictability and realism.
Regrouping after individual sessions allowed for shared insight and peer learning.
Students learned not just from their own mistakes, but from each other’s too, safely, openly. (3)
As one student put it: “happy to share if everyone can learn from my mistake”.
And just when they thought it was over, the phone rang one last time.
One student picked up. No notes. No prep. Just unexpected queries from a patient.
The shift was instant from clinical precision to human connection.
In that moment, it all came together: they weren’t just learning content, they were rehearsing for the pressure of assessment and the realities of clinical practice.
And they knew it – internal feedback showed 97% of students valued this model as key to assessment readiness and future-ready skills.
Virally remote
This model didn’t trend on social media. It didn’t need to. One week we were in the lab, phones in hand. The next, lockdown hit.
But learning didn’t pause.
Phone consultations transitioned to Microsoft Teams seamlessly. Tutors became virtual prescribers.
While the NHS and universities were still adapting, over 1,000 of our alumni pharmacists were already in the workforce, ready to tackle pandemic care, with those essential skills embedded in the curriculum years earlier.
Many returned for emotional support sessions, exhausted, reflective but still finding the energy to quip: ‘Ms Mason, did you predict the pandemic?’
Perhaps I didn’t. But I did predict that communication under pressure would be the safety skill pharmacy couldn’t afford to ignore, and that’s exactly what carried them through.
Remember, silence could kill. But it was a whisper that shaped the standards.
That quiet concern sparked action, shaping how I taught, what I prioritised and how students practised.
From subtle feedback came visible change, rippling through classrooms, across cohorts and into real-world pharmacy.
For over a decade, the work has grown in the background, scaffolded at Kingston University, practised by our alumni nationwide.
I have given students their voice… but kept mine quiet.
The impact didn’t need announcing – it shows itself in clinical practice, in evolving standards and in the career readiness they continue to carry into the profession.
The game continues
Following full accreditation in December 2023, and a year shaping simulation across the curriculum, I finally stepped back to reflect, to let the evidence speak, to share the story that’s long gone untold.
With Kingston University now championing Future Skills, it’s clear my 5 Cs framework isn’t just aligned with that direction. It anticipated the shift.
That same mindset now drives my current work exploring simulation for broader learning and public engagement.
Among several ideas, one is a game-based simulation to educate the public on antimicrobial resistance, which I proposed in a recent funding bid.
For me, the principle remains the same: using simulation not just to deliver content, but to build capability, whether in public understanding or student confidence under pressure.
For me, standards may set the minimum, but vision sets the pace.
Simulation is here to stay. But future readiness takes more than benchmarks. It takes innovation, clarity and commitment.
Got a whisper to share?
The quietest ones often ripple the most. What are your students quietly telling you they need?
I’m still playing. Still building.
Let’s raise the game, with sharper skills, safer practice and students ready for whatever comes next.
Game on?
References
1. General Pharmaceutical Council. Standards for the initial education and training of pharmacists. London: GPhC; 2021.
2. Nestel D, Tierney T. Role-play for medical students learning about communication: Guidelines for maximising benefits. BMC Med Educ. 2007;7(1):3.
3. Rudolph JW, Raemer DB, Simon R. Debriefing as formative assessment: closing performance gaps in medical education. Acad Emerg Med. 2014;21(12):1351–7.
