IMPROVEMENT AND ASSESSMENT OF VIRTUAL PATIENT TOOL IN TEACHING OF SKILLS FOR PRACTICE OF PHARMACEUTICAL CARE

Blície Jennifer Balisa-Rocha, Elisa Souza Menendez, Leila Maciel de Almeida e Silva, Viviane Gibara Guimarães, Giselle de Carvalho Britto, Alessandra Rezende Mesquita, Gabriella Fernandes Magalhães, Divaldo Pereira Lyra Junior

In pharmacy courses, the use of virtual patients (VPs) allows students to enhance their clinical, pharmacotherapeutical, and communication skills. Therefore, to enhance and evaluate the use of the virtual patient (VP) tool — PharmaVP Software — in the teaching of skills for the practice of pharmaceutical care (PC). A methodological development study was conducted in five stages: enhancement (pre-tests), evaluation of software by developers and mentors; application; quantitative assessment, qualitative assessment, content analysis and improvement (post-tests). Nine enhancements (pre-tests) were conducted on the system. In all, 31 students resolved the clinical cases of the VP. The evaluation demonstrated that the software is functional, enables learning, and is operational, attractive, effective, productive, and satisfactory and showed positive results regarding students’acceptance, use, learning, and satisfaction. These results were confirmedby the qualitative analysis of the VP. PharmaVP Software was improved and evaluated satisfactorily for the teaching skills required for the practice of PC.