Developing Leadership Skills in Pharmacy Education

Exploring the effectiveness of pharmacy curriculum in Saudi Arabia in developing leadership skills among pharmacy students from their perspective: A mixed-methods study

Introduction

Leadership is an important component of pharmacy education. This study helps identify the strengths and limitations of the pharmacy curriculum in developing leadership skills among pharmacy students in Saudi Arabia and suggest how to improve the curriculum to better prepare them to become effective leaders in the healthcare profession.

Methods

This study employed a mixed-methods research design with a sequential exploratory design. Phase I involved semi-structured interviews with student leaders of pharmacy student clubs/societies from different universities in Saudi Arabia. Interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. The written transcriptions were analyzed using thematic analysis. Phase II used a survey questionnaire to collect data from a larger sample of pharmacy students and interns from different universities in Saudi Arabia and the data is mainly presented as frequencies and percentages.

Results

Eleven eligible participants were interviewed. Thematic analysis generated 288 codes which were categorized into 17 subthemes. These subthemes were further categorized into five overarching themes: Leadership development and acquisition; Skills and characteristics of effective leaders; Challenge and support for student leaders; Personal growth and benefits of leadership; Vision, goals and responsibilities of student leaders. The findings informed the development of the survey questionnaire which was completed by 484 students/interns. Mixed opinions were received regarding whether the pharmacy curriculum/program is helping or has helped the respondents develop leadership skills as well as whether the college has provided (or is providing) adequate support, resources or opportunities for the development of leadership skills. Eighty-eight per cent of the participants requested that the pharmacy curriculum in their college should include more courses or workshops focused on leadership development. They favoured several options from the listed topics to be included in these courses or workshops of which effective communication was the most prominent.

Conclusion

This study highlights that pharmacy curriculum/colleges in Saudi Arabia promote essential leadership skills through various pedagogical approaches and support mechanisms to some extent. However, the students identified that the pharmacy curriculum needs to be revised in order to better prepare them for leadership positions.

An Exploratory Qualitative Study of Student Pharmacist Perspectives on Leadership

OBJECTIVES

The objectives of this study were to (1) explore student pharmacists' knowledge and perceptions of leadership characteristics and behaviors, and (2) identify where students have opportunities to observe and exhibit leadership.

METHODS

Data were collected from 32 students participating in a pharmacy leadership elective. Students submitted reflections about leadership definitions, characteristics, observations of leadership, and times when they felt like a leader. An inductive constant comparative analysis was used to code and categorize text segments from the reflections using NVivo 1.7.1 (Lumivero; Denver, CO). Holistic consideration of the reflections was used to identify an overarching theme.

RESULTS

Three categories were specified to organize the data from the qualitative analysis: (1) Leader Characteristics, (2) Leading Behaviors, and (3) Leadership Contexts. One overarching theme was proposed encompassing the categories and sub-categories: Leadership Contradictions. The theme is based on the finding that students seemed able to identify leadership characteristics but emphasized descriptions like holding titles and completing managerial or task-focused duties, suggesting contradictions between conceptual understanding of leadership and leadership behaviors.

CONCLUSION

The contradictions between students' conceptual understanding of leadership and what they offered as examples of how and where leadership was observed or applied to practice suggest additional activities and experiences may be warranted to help students appreciate that leadership extends beyond formal roles and demonstrates the ability to influence and support the achievement of shared goals of a team. Additionally, a multi-modal approach may enhance leadership assessment.

Validation of the specialized competency framework for pharmacists in hospital settings (SCF-PHS): a cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to validate the content of the specialized competency frameworks for pharmacists working in hospital settings (hospital and clinical pharmacists) and pilot the frameworks for practice assessment.

METHODS

This online cross-sectional study was carried out between March and October 2022 among a sample of 96 Lebanese pharmacists working in hospital settings. The frameworks were distributed to full-time hospital and clinical pharmacists, who filled them out according to their role in the hospital.

RESULTS

Overall, the competencies were distributed over five domains for hospital pharmacists (fundamental skills, safe and rational use of medicines, patient-centered care, professional skills, and preparedness for emergencies), while for clinical pharmacists, competencies were distributed over seven domains (quality improvement, clinical knowledge and skills, soft skills, ability to conduct clinical research, ability to provide effective education, use information technology to make decisions and reduce errors, and emergency preparedness). Moreover, Cronbach alpha values were appropriate, indicating sufficient to high internal consistency. Pharmacists were highly confident in most competencies, with some exceptions related to research in emergency settings (data evaluation, research, and reporting).

CONCLUSIONS

This study could validate competency frameworks for clinical and hospital pharmacists, with the competencies and their respective behaviors showing an adequate construct analysis. It also identified the domains that require further development, i.e., soft skills and research in emergency settings. Both these domains are timely and needed to overcome the current practice challenges in Lebanon.