Better qualifying students in the control laboratory using the "Error Lab"

Introduction
The training and qualification of professionals in a quality control laboratory are among the requirements of Good Preparation Practices (GPP) to ensure the quality and safety of the preparations control process. The pharmacy students’ skills required for their activities in the quality control laboratory are assessed following their training through supervised practical application. In order to supplement the methods used to evaluate students at their workstation, an additional qualification tool, the "Error Lab", was designed and validated by the pharmacists in charge of the lab. The aim is to complement student qualification and to evaluate their satisfaction with the use of this tool.

Materials and Methods
Scenarios were created based on the skill framework for pharmacy students in the quality control laboratory, organized into eight modules (general principles, workbench, chemical products, personal protective equipment (PPE), centrifuge, HPLC, documentation, and analytical calculations), with an estimated duration of 25 minutes and combining interactive scenes and calculation exercises. The material was then developed on the Genially® platform. Student’s skills were assessed using 14 questions, with a passing threshold set at 12/14. A student satisfaction survey was conducted using a questionnaire based on the Kirkpatrick criteria.

Results
The material developed covers 29 errors: 6 workbench errors, 7 related to PPE use, 1 related to centrifuge use, 5 related to HPLC, 7 data-recording errors, 3 analytical calculation exercises, and one exercise on identifying strong/weak bases and acids. Seven pharmacy students completed the qualification pathway, with an average score of 13/14. The satisfaction survey results showed excellent overall satisfaction, with an average score of 54/60, as well as the realism and interactivity of the pathway, its engaging nature, and the relevance of the concepts covered.

Conclusion
By placing real-world scenarios at the center of the learning process, our educational approach grounds skill development in actual laboratory situations. The results are very positive: the engaging nature of the material was highly praised, and both the final quiz scores and overall satisfaction with the tool attest of its educational effectiveness. Learners nonetheless expressed a wish to extend the system to include the use of the software that operates the laboratory’s analytical instruments. The success of this initiative will lead to the addition of a module dedicated to using and handling an HPLC. This approach also fits within the laboratory’s ISO 9001 certification process.

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