Holding online classes for the Advanced Clinical Psychology

—Online educational system design—

Abstract

This study examined an online educational system for pharmacy students. We hold an advanced clinical psychology class for 5^th year students to gain competency in communication skills through normal in person classes. However due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we were unable to hold normal in person classes to practice role-play exercises and had to adjust to online classes in 2020. In these sessions, students participated in online psychology lectures, and examined videos of role-play exercises, which included videos about patients’ care, demonstrated by faculty members, and reported their opinions. The reports were then evaluated by faculty members. A questionnaire survey was conducted to determine whether online classes were useful. The results indicated that 95.5% of 176 pharmacy students answered positively and 91.5% of them found it useful to watch the role-play exercise videos and provide feedback. We believe that it is possible to change the learning methods of role-play exercises for students to gain competency in theoretical communication skills to build a good relationship with patients as pharmacists. Further, we think that it is possible to understand patients’ psychology and gain competency in performance, through these online learning tools, in addition to students’ role-play exercises.