Pharmacy students provide care comparable to pharmacists in an outpatient anticoagulation setting

Student-Led discharge counseling program for High-Risk medications in a teaching hospital in Saudi Arabia: A pilot study

Discharge counseling by pharmacists reduces adverse medication events, emergency department visits, and readmissions. Studies indicate that pharmacy students in advanced pharmacy practice experiences (APPE) can deliver effective medication-related activities. An open label randomized controlled trial was conducted in adults discharged on warfarin, insulin, or both. Pharmacy students performed medication reconciliation, structured medication counseling, and follow-up calls 72-hours post-discharge. The usual care arm received traditional education. The primary outcome was the 30-day readmission rate post-discharge. Ninety-eight patients on high-risk medications were randomized to intervention (n = 51) or usual care (n = 47). The 30-day hospital readmission rate was lower in the intervention group (8/51, 15% vs. 11/47, 23%); (p = 0.48). There was no statistical difference in the time to first unplanned health care use (hazard ratio = 0.49 (95 %CI, 0.19–1.24), or the time-to-first clinic visit post-discharge (p = 0.94) between the two arms. Students identified 26 drug-related problems during reconciliation. Patients in the intervention arm reported high satisfaction with the service (mean 3.94; SD 0.11). Involving APPE students in the transition of care activities presents an excellent opportunity to minimize pharmacists' workload while maintaining patient care services.

Young@Heart clinic: a feasibility study of an undergraduate pharmacy student-led blood pressure and healthy lifestyle clinic

OBJECTIVES

Student-led clinics offer a work-based learning (WBL) opportunity for undergraduate healthcare students to engage with professional activities in a real-life setting. Participation is posited to provide experiential learning and prepare students for clinical practice. This study aims to assess the feasibility of establishing and engaging undergraduate students in one such initiative through the collaboration between one School of Pharmacy and local authority.

METHODS

The clinic was developed using a logic model and delivered in 2019-2020. A service specification and training were developed and provided to volunteering undergraduate pharmacy students. Anonymised service data were collected and process outcomes around student and public engagement were recorded to assess feasibility for longer-term embedding into the undergraduate programme.

KEY FINDINGS

The clinic was operational for 20 days from November 2019 to February 2020. Student volunteers (n = 43, 36.7%) were trained and provided blood pressure screening and healthy living advice to 131 members of the public. Student drop-out occurred due to the voluntary nature of the initiative.

CONCLUSIONS

Collaborative working with the local authority facilitated this WBL experience outside conventional clinical environments. The study demonstrated the potential for students to participate in service provision. This offers value to the local population through a health prevention service when a structured approach to the design and delivery of the educational experience is undertaken. The study provides insight into how the WBL can work, what it requires (e.g. resource, preparation), and learning to inform the wider implementation of this WBL into the undergraduate curriculum.

Value of Pharmacy Students Performing Population Management Activity Interventions as an Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience

Objective. To assess the value of an advanced pharmacy practice experience in which students engaged in population health management (PHM) activities for a managed care setting. Methods. Students were provided with a list of patients, trained on the requirements for each PHM activity and completed them independently. The students reviewed the electronic record for each patient on their list to identify those who were non-adherent to dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) within one year of coronary stent placement, non-adherent to beta blockers (BB) within six months post-acute myocardial infarction, or with renal dysfunction and requiring dose adjustment of lipid-lowering therapy. Students coded each intervention based on predefined categories such as patient education, medication discontinuation, or medication reconciliation, and then if necessary were reviewed with the pharmacy preceptor. The primary investigator determined the intervention to be either actionable or non-actionable. The primary outcome was the proportion and type of interventions made by each student. The secondary outcome was clinical pharmacist time offset. A retrospective, data-only pilot study was conducted to determine the outcomes from the program over four years. Results. Forty-six students made 3,774 interventions over the study period, 37% of which were categorized as actionable. The most common actionable interventions were providing patient education (52%), verifying prescription adherence (23%), and medication therapy adjustment (10.5%). Over the study period, an estimated 765.6 hours of clinical pharmacist time was offset, or approximately 191.4 hours per academic year. Conclusion. This study demonstrated that a population health management approach can be used successfully within an APPE. This approach can result in offset pharmacist time for precepting organizations, while offering meaningful clinical interventions for patients and learning opportunities for students.

Qualitative Evaluation of a Practice-based Experience Pilot Program for Master of Pharmacy Students in Scotland

Objective. To determine the views of pharmacists in central Scotland regarding experiential education for MPharm students. Methods. A thematic analysis was completed by Ms. Gillian Hendry and Dr. Sally Wiggins of interviews conducted with ten practicing pharmacists paired with first-year master of pharmacy (MPharm) students during the 2011-2012 academic year. Relevant comments from the interviews were manually sorted in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet to bring similarly themed material together to facilitate the identification and naming of recurring themes and subthemes. Results. The pharmacists were unanimous in their opinion that experiential education was valuable for MPharm students and, in particular, that it helped students to develop self-confidence. The pharmacists derived personal satisfaction in developing mentor/mentee relationships with students. They also recognized the value that students provided to the workforce as well as the educational value to themselves in supervising students. The participants' primary dissatisfaction was that the pharmacy workflow limited the time they could spend mentoring students. Conclusion. The results provide guidance to the academic community and the pharmacy practice community in the United Kingdom (UK) regarding the design and integration of experiential education courses in MPharm degree programs.

Pharmacy Student Learning During Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences in Relation to the CAPE 2013 Outcomes

Outcomes from The Center for Advancement of Pharmacy Education (CAPE) are intended to represent the terminal knowledge, skills, and attitudes pharmacy students should possess and have guided delivery of pharmacy education for more than two decades. Advanced pharmacy practice experiences (APPEs) are the endpoint of pharmacy curricula where demonstration and assessment of terminal learning occurs. This review examines published literature in relation to the most recent CAPE outcomes to determine the extent to which they have been addressed during APPEs since 1996. Details related to the APPE focus, intervention(s)/learning setting(s), and assessments are summarized according to the 15 CAPE outcomes. Further, the assessments are categorized according to the level of learning achieved using an available method. Common CAPE outcomes are highlighted, as well as those for which published reports are lacking for APPEs. The range and quality of assessments are discussed and emphasize the need for continuous improvement of scholarly design and assessment.

Evaluation of pharmacy practice program in the 6-year pharmaceutical education curriculum in Japan: hospital pharmacy practice program

Background

The objective of this study was to clarify the state of national pharmacy practice program in the 6-year course of pharmaceutical education from the students’ point of view. We will suggest the points for improvement and issues of the current pharmacy practice programs to enhance the educational effects of the pharmacy practice program.

Methods

The survey conducted from September 2011 to March 2012 (hereinafter referred to as “2011”) and from September 2012 to March 2013 (hereinafter referred to as “2012”) comprised 1,607 pharmacy students, who had completed the pharmacy practice program. They were asked to fill out a self-descriptive questionnaire for the purpose of investigating the content of the pharmacy practice that the students themselves experienced, guidance provided by the supervising pharmacists, and support by the university faculty staff.

Results

In order to clarify the factor structure of the overall results, four factors were extracted through an exploratory analysis: “satisfactory learning”, “support system of the training site (hospital)”, “support system of university”, and “dialogue with patients”. When we compared the score for each four factors between 2011 and 2012 and we found that 2012 was evaluated as significantly higher for all factors. Furthermore, opportunities for discussion and reflection with the students led to observation that 2012 exhibited significantly better results than 2011.

Conclusions

The students evaluations for the quality of hospital pharmacy practice have improved in 2012 compared to evaluations in 2011. Regarding the four factors of “satisfactory learning”, “support system of the training site”, “support system of university”, and “dialogue with patients”, significant differences in the results from 2011 and 2012 were observed, indicating their marked improvement.