A Required Online Course with a Public Health Focus for Third Professional Year Pharmacy Students

Cooperative wikis used to promote constructivism and collaboration in a skills laboratory course

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

This study was designed to promote students' engagement with course material through use of a wiki and to assess students' perceptions of and experience with wikis.

EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY AND SETTING

Students used a wiki to complete course assignments. A post-survey evaluated their experience and measured four constructs related to use of the wiki: perceived learning, communication and reflection, satisfaction, and frustration. Previous experience, demographic information, and comments regarding benefits and drawbacks were also recorded. Descriptive statistics and Cronbach's alpha were used to evaluate data. Thematic analysis was used to evaluate open-ended responses.

FINDINGS

Twenty out of 68 (29.4%) students participated in the study. Mean scores for attitude constructs were: perceived learning (mean = 4.0, SD = 1.3); communication and reflection (mean = 3.9, SD = 1.2); satisfaction (mean = 3.7, SD = 1.4); and frustration (mean = 4.2, SD = 1.6). Thematic analysis revealed students' feelings that the wiki was useful for collaborating, was helpful for keeping information organized, and created a valuable study tool. In contrast, students felt the wiki was not user friendly, and collaboration was limited.

SUMMARY

Students felt the wiki encouraged collaboration and was a useful way to organize and study course information. However, students reported low satisfaction with wiki assignments. Choosing a wiki that enhances course material is necessary to successfully support student learning.

The Contribution of the Humanities and Social Sciences to Pharmacy Education: Literature Review and Perspectives

Background: Healthcare systems worldwide adapt to patients’ needs and expectations, following social evolutions. Pharmaceutical practice has shifted towards activities such as therapeutic education. Such new missions require to prioritize human and social sciences, which now play a predominant role in training. Objective: This work consists of assessing the contribution of human and social sciences to the field of pharmacy, with a twofold focus on practice and training. Method: A literature review was carried out according to the PRISMA guidelines focusing on the last 10 years. Selected full texts were read and analyzed to elicit the contribution of human and social sciences to pharmacy. Results: Overall 36 articles were included. Three specific topics were identified during an inductive process of full text analysis: public health policy, patient care, and interprofessional collaboration. Conclusions: Although human and social sciences are essential to the evolution of the pharmacist profession, their impact on health care costs remains difficult to evaluate. Moreover, teaching human and social sciences can prove difficult to standardize. Such approaches must be supported and organized by governments and universities with a view of upscaling practices.

A case-based learning exercise to increase students' understanding of the pharmacist's role in public health interventions for individual patients

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether a public health (PH) micro-level case-based learning exercise increased pharmacy students' self-perceived understanding and confidence in their role as PH pharmacists.

METHODS

Three PH micro-level case-based learning exercises in community pharmacy settings were developed and integrated into the third professional year PH course. Students enrolled in the PH course from January 2012 - May 2015 completed a pre- and post-activity survey consisting of 22 statements with Likert scale responses. Survey questions were grouped into domains: perceptions of pharmacist roles (ROLES) in PH, confidence in ability to identify and address PH problems (CONF), pharmacist impact on improving PH outcomes for patients with human immunodeficiency virus (IMPACT-HIV), diabetes (IMPACT-DM), or alcoholism (IMPACT-AL), perceiving pharmacists as role models in PH (MODEL), and whether PH is beyond the scope of pharmacy practice (SCOPE). Within each domain, paired t-tests were performed on summated scores (pre- vs. post-, alpha = 0.05).

RESULTS

Both surveys were completed by 271 of 336 students (80.7%). Baseline scores were lowest in the CONF and MODEL domains. The activity resulted in significant changes in 21 out of 24 survey questions. Significantly higher scores were found for domains of ROLES (+1.22), CONF (+1.60), IMPACT-HIV (+0.65), IMPACT-DM (+0.42), IMPACT-AL (+0.70), and MODEL (+1.50). Cronbach's alpha ranged from 0.73 to 0.93 for each domain.

CONCLUSION

A PH case-based learning session increased students' scores on a pre- and post-activity survey regarding PH challenges at the micro-level. The activity improved students' perceptions and confidence in providing PH interventions.

The use of social media as a tool to educate United Kingdom undergraduate pharmacy students about public health

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

The role of community pharmacists in England now includes public health service delivery, which is deemed to be an essential pharmacy service. This study aimed to evaluate pharmacy students' perceptions of social media as a learning tool and to investigate if workplace skills could be imbedded into a course assignment.

EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY AND SETTING

Final year Kingston University MPharm students (N = 120) were divided into 10 groups for a course assignment. They had to deliver an offline and online public health campaign on an assigned topic. Following the campaign, students delivered an oral presentation and created a poster to showcase their campaign content and strategy.

FINDINGS

Over half (51.3%) preferred the self-directed learning aspect of the assignment while 28.2% preferred the delivery of the campaign and use of social media. Students noted that they had developed team working, communication and creativity skills. Most (93.6%) agreed that social media was an effective tool when learning about public health. Students achieved higher scores for their social media pages than they did for their oral presentation.

SUMMARY

A blended learning approach proved to be an effective way to teach final year pharmacy students about public health topics. Social media was noted as an effective tool to learn about public health. A public health assignment is an effective way to support pharmacy students to learn how to use this medium appropriately to support healthy lifestyles.

Exploring virtual reality as a platform for distance team-based learning

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Online distance education has become popular in pharmacy education, but it can be challenging to provide engaging experiences such as team-based learning (TBL) in this format. This study explored the utility of virtual reality (VR) as a platform to provide the engaging elements of TBL, without students needing to be physically present in the same room.

EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY AND SETTING

Volunteers participated in a modified TBL exercise in VR, followed by a survey of the experience. The survey included Likert-type questions to evaluate the level of immersion and perceived engagement, comfort and desirability of VR-TBL experiences.

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

The majority of the responses to the 14-question survey were 'agree' or 'strongly agree'. Ninety-four percent (94.4%) of participants strongly agreed that this was a fun experience, and 94.4% of participants strongly agreed that they would take a course in this format if it was offered. Although none of the questions received a majority of 'disagree' or 'strongly disagree' responses, areas for improvement included ease of use of the technology, comfort and improving the learning activity.

SUMMARY

The response of participants to this study was positive and the overall conclusion was that VR has the potential to be a useful tool for online, distance TBL, and should be explored further.

Knowledge, attitudes and practice of final-year student pharmacists in public health in Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe: an exploratory survey

OBJECTIVE

To explore the knowledge, attitudes and practice of final-year student pharmacists about public health.

METHODS

Knowledge, attitudes and practice of all final-year student pharmacists (N = 158) in Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe were assessed through a quantitative 12-item survey. The survey assessed personal interest and attitude towards public health activities, self-assessed ability to perform basic public health activities, perspectives towards current pharmacist practices within public health activities in their country, and student involvement in public health activities during pharmacy school.

KEY FINDINGS

Eighty-two per cent of students responded to the survey (n = 129). The majority (95%) of all final-year student pharmacists are interested in contributing to public health activities in both health promotion and disease prevention and feel, as pharmacists, they have the responsibility to do so. Additionally, the majority of students would like more education during pharmacy school on health promotion (93%) and disease prevention (89%). Despite their interest, low numbers of student pharmacists feel that pharmacists are currently utilised in disease prevention (35%) and health promotion (42%).

CONCLUSION

Final-year student pharmacists in Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe express strong interest in public health education and involvement in public health activities. This interest and enthusiasm can serve as evidence for advancing public health education in the pharmacy curricula and for developing pharmacist opportunities in public health efforts that match the needs of the country.

Assessment of Pharmacists Experiences and Attitudes Toward Professionalism and its Challenges in Pharmacy Practice

Nowadays pharmacists should be involved in patients care and providing pharmaceutical care more than before, but still there is a gap between standard of care and pharmacy practice in pharmacies. In this study we aimed at evaluating the pharmacists experiences and attitudes about ethical professional practice in pharmacies. The study was conducted in the Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. This study performed as a mixed method study including 12 semi-structured interviews and two focus group discussions (FGDs). All interviews and FGDs were recorded verbatim. The study evaluates the pharmacy practice based on the Code of Ethics for National Pharmaceutical System requirements. Our study presents the pharmacists ethical challenges in 14 areas of practice such as lack of proper pharmacists-patients and inter and intra-professional relationship; poor management of medication error; lack of pharmacists awareness about their responsibilities, professional rules and regulations; non-OTC drug dispensing without prescription; no collaboration with custodian organizations; dissatisfaction from profession; financial problems; mismanagement in confronting with ads and offers of pharmaceutical companies, and conflict of interest; and uneven drug distribution during shortage. For providing standard pharmaceutical care modification of infra structures, educational system and regulations in pharmaceutical system is highly recommended.

Addressing the global need for public health clinical pharmacists through student pharmacist education: a focus on developing nations

It is time for pharmacists to begin advancing their roles in public health and play a more integral part in public health initiatives. Within developed nations, the profession has demonstrated its value in advancing preventive care; however, the same cannot be said for pharmacists worldwide. Emphasis on training public health pharmacists should also be on developing nations, where the need for preventive care is highly unmet. To ensure all graduating pharmacists are prepared to engage in public health activities, education in this field must be provided during their main years of pharmacy school. In conclusion, public health education should be incorporated into pharmacy curriculae within developing nations so all pharmacy graduates are prepared to engage in public health activities.