The Virtual Patient Lab for Pharmacists

Sit down with a simulated patient. Review the chart, have the conversation in your own words, and earn accredited CE on the strength of your counseling — not a multiple-choice quiz.

ACPE application-based CPE Scored, personalized feedback Reported to CPE Monitor
Start Your First Encounter
Free with an RxCE subscription · $4.99 on its own · Works on desktop, tablet & phone
Jointly Accredited (ACCME · ACPE · ANCC) 20+ years of online CE Instant certificate on completion Clinician-reviewed cases
A new kind of CE

What is the Virtual Patient Lab?

The Virtual Patient Lab is the first accredited AI virtual-patient CE built for practicing pharmacists. Instead of reading about a counseling skill, you use it — on a lifelike simulated patient who answers what you actually ask, in a conversation no two pharmacists will have the same way.

A real conversation

The patient speaks and responds live to your words — no script to follow, no answers to click. Ask well, and the encounter opens up.

A real chart

You prepare like you would in practice: demographics, med list, fill history, labs. What the chart can't tell you is why the encounter matters.

A scored debrief

Your conversation is assessed against a pharmacist-validated communication rubric — with domain-by-domain feedback and the rationale behind it.

Accredited credit

Application-based CPE from a Jointly Accredited provider, with your credit reported automatically to CPE Monitor.

The encounter arc

How a Virtual Patient Lab encounter works

One contact hour, built the way clinical skills are actually learned: two patient encounters with scored feedback in between.

Review the chart

Open the workroom, read the patient record, and form your plan — just like a real medication review.

Meet your patient

Your patient greets you face-to-face, with a voice and a personality. The conversation is yours to lead.

Work the case

Interview, listen, counsel. The patient responds to your actual questions — what you uncover depends on how you ask.

Get your debrief

See your rubric scores across five communication domains, with specific feedback on what worked and what to try next.

Prove the growth

Return for the paired encounter with a second patient — apply the feedback and watch your own scores move.

Now available

Meet your first patients

The launch activity is a paired medication-review course. Two patients, two conditions, one skill — the kind of conversation you have every day, made practicable.

Encounter 1 · Type 2 Diabetes

Mrs. Eleanor Davis

A comprehensive medication review. Mrs. Davis's A1c is drifting upward and her chart raises a question the numbers alone can't answer. How you open the conversation — and how well you listen — decides what you learn.

MTM encounter · Chart review + live interview + scored debrief
Encounter 2 · Hypertension

Mr. Raymond Ellis

A blood-pressure medication review. Mr. Ellis's home readings aren't where anyone wants them, and he's sure he's doing everything right. Same core skill as your first encounter, a different patient — completed after your Davis debrief, so the growth is yours to see.

MTM encounter · Paired with Mrs. Davis · Compare your scores
Why a pair? Skills improve through practice, feedback, and a second attempt. You complete Mrs. Davis's encounter, receive your scored debrief, then meet Mr. Ellis — and your paired summary shows how your communication changed between the two.
Not a video. Not a quiz.

CE you practice, not watch

Most "interactive" CE is a branching video or a case vignette with multiple-choice answers. The Virtual Patient Lab is a live encounter.

Typical CE activity
Virtual Patient Lab
Read a monograph, answer recall questions
Hold an unscripted conversation with a responsive patient
Pick from pre-written dialogue choices
Ask anything, in your own words — the encounter adapts to you
Pass a post-test on the facts
Be assessed on the skill itself — your actual communication, scored
Generic feedback, if any
A personal debrief on your conversation, domain by domain, with rationale
Built on the evidence

Why simulated patients work

Virtual-patient simulation is one of the best-studied formats in health-professions education. The Virtual Patient Lab is built on what that literature says actually moves skills.

2 + feedback

Paired-case practice

Studies of paired virtual-patient cases show meaningful competency gains when learners complete two similar encounters with feedback between them. That's exactly how the launch course is structured.

5 domains

A validated framework

Scoring follows the Calgary-Cambridge model of clinical communication — an internationally recognized framework, mapped to the realities of pharmacist counseling and medication review.

L4

Real outcomes data

The encounter measures real competence in action — not attendance — producing outcomes evidence at Moore's Level 4, a bar most CE formats can't reach.

Selected evidence: Iancu et al., 2023 (competency gains from paired virtual-patient cases with interleaved feedback); Kurtz & Silverman, Calgary-Cambridge guide to the medical interview; Moore et al., 2009 (outcomes framework for continuing education).

Responsible AI, by design

How the AI is governed

AI in accredited education demands more than a good demo. The Virtual Patient Lab was engineered from day one around current ACCME guidance on the responsible use of AI in CE.

Clinician-authored ground truth

Every patient is defined by a complete, clinician-written case file. The AI can only draw on those reviewed facts — ask about something outside them and the patient expresses uncertainty rather than inventing an answer.

Pharmacist-reviewed content

A practicing pharmacist reviews and signs off on every case before it reaches a learner — the same independent, clinician-validated standard behind all RxCE activities.

A rubric, not a vibe

Scoring runs against a structured, validated rubric with documented criteria — the same instrument for every learner, auditable end to end.

Your data, respected

Transcripts and scores exist to award your credit and document outcomes. They are never used for advertising and never used to train AI models.

Credit & accreditation

Accredited, application-based CPE

1.0 contact hour (0.1 CEU)
Application-based · Paired activity
  • Both encounters + evaluation = credit
  • Certificate available instantly
  • Reported to CPE Monitor

The encounter is the assessment

This is an application-based activity: your scored patient conversations are the assessment, so there's no separate exam to study for. Complete both encounters, review your debriefs and paired summary, and submit the course evaluation to claim credit.

Learners in states with additional assessment requirements, such as Florida, complete a short post-activity quiz.

Jointly Accredited Provider — Interprofessional Continuing Education

In support of improving patient care, RxCE.com is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.

Getting started

Three steps to your first encounter

Create your account

Sign up in under a minute with your name, credential, and NPI. The Lab is free with an RxCE subscription — or $4.99 on its own.

Meet Mrs. Davis

Review the chart, step into the counseling room, and have the conversation. Your debrief is waiting when you finish.

Complete the pair, claim credit

Finish Mr. Ellis's encounter, see your growth in the paired summary, submit the evaluation, and download your certificate.

Questions

Frequently asked questions

What is the Virtual Patient Lab?
An accredited CE activity where you conduct a live, unscripted conversation with an AI-simulated patient. You review the chart, interview and counsel the patient in your own words, and receive a scored debrief on your clinical communication. The encounter itself is the learning activity and the assessment.
Is the patient a video or a chatbot script?
Neither. There's no branching video and no multiple-choice dialogue tree. The patient responds live to whatever you actually say, the way a real patient would — but everything the patient can say is grounded in a case file written and reviewed by practicing clinicians, so the patient never invents clinical facts.
How is my performance scored?
Your full conversation is scored against a pharmacist-validated rubric built on the Calgary-Cambridge framework, an internationally recognized model of clinical communication. You receive a per-domain breakdown with specific feedback and rationale — what worked, what to try differently, and why.
Is there a test at the end?
The encounter is the assessment — there's no separate exam to study for. Your scored conversation satisfies the assessment requirement for this application-based activity. Learners in states with additional assessment requirements, such as Florida, complete a short post-activity quiz.
How much CE credit do I earn?
The paired activity — two patient encounters with feedback between them — is designed as 1.0 contact hour (0.1 CEU) of application-based continuing pharmacy education. Complete both encounters and the course evaluation to receive credit, reported automatically to CPE Monitor.
How much does the Virtual Patient Lab cost?
The Virtual Patient Lab is free with an RxCE subscription. Don't have one? You can purchase the activity on its own for $4.99.
Why are there two patients?
Because that's how skills actually improve. Research on paired virtual-patient cases shows meaningful competency gains when learners complete two similar encounters with feedback in between. You meet your first patient, get a scored debrief, then apply what you learned with a second patient — and see the difference in your own numbers.
Who writes the cases — can I trust what the AI says?
Every case is authored as a complete clinical ground-truth file and reviewed by a practicing pharmacist before release. The AI can only draw on what that reviewed file contains — if you ask about something outside it, the patient expresses uncertainty rather than inventing an answer. The activity is built to current ACCME guidance on the responsible use of AI in accredited education, with named clinical oversight.
Is my conversation private?
Your encounter transcript and scores are used to award your credit and maintain accreditation records, and in de-identified aggregate to evaluate educational outcomes. They're never used for advertising and never used to train AI models.
What do I need to participate?
An RxCE account and a modern browser on desktop, tablet, or phone — the activity is free with an RxCE subscription, or $4.99 on its own. The patient speaks aloud, so headphones or speakers make the encounter more lifelike — captions are available if you prefer to read.

Your patient is waiting.

Mrs. Davis is in the counseling room. What you learn from her depends on what you ask — and that's the whole point.

Start Your First Encounter Free with an RxCE subscription · $4.99 on its own · Questions? help@rxce.com