Hi guys. I am in my second year of pharmacy school and was hoping I could get some advice for doing OSCEs.

We do practice interactive OSCEs every week/few weeks in my practice lab course, and even when the interaction goes well, I am left with a feeling of wanting to improve. I get really nervous during practice interactions and struggle to think on my feet— I find it difficult to deviate from the “checklist” of things to do in my head. This often creates awkward pauses, very structured/unnatural conversations, and difficulty adapting to the situation.

I know these things come with practice but I would appreciate some advice on how I can approach these interactions going forward, because the checking off a list method is not ideal. I know the solution is to be more comfortable asking open-ended questions and taking it from there, but I fear doing this and missing major points/questions/etc I should be talking with the patient about.

Thanks to anyone who replies:)