Curricular integration of the pharmacists' patient care process

Perspectives of Pharmacy Students on Ethical Issues Related to Artificial Intelligence: A Comprehensive Survey Study

Background The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into pharmacy education and practice holds the potential to advance learning experiences and prepare future pharmacists for evolving healthcare practice. However, it also raises ethical considerations that need to be addressed carefully. This study aimed to explore pharmacy students' attitudes regarding AI integration into pharmacy education and practice. Methods A cross-sectional design was employed, utilizing a validated online questionnaire administered to 702 pharmacy students from diverse demographic backgrounds. The questionnaire gathered data on participants' attitudes and concerns regarding AI integration, as well as demographic information and factors influencing their attitudes. Results Most participants were female students (72.8%), from public universities (55.6%) and not working (64.2%). Participants expressed a generally negative attitude toward AI integration, citing concerns and barriers such as patient data privacy (62.0%), susceptibility to hacking (56.2%), potential job displacement (69.3%), cost limitations (66.8%), access (69.1%) and the absence of regulations (48.1% agree), training (70.4%), physicians' reluctance (65.1%) and patient apprehension (70.8%). Factors including country of residence, academic year, cumulative GPA, work status, technology literacy, and AI understanding significantly influenced participants' attitudes ( p  < 0.05). Conclusion The study highlights the need for comprehensive AI education in pharmacy curricula including related ethical concerns. Addressing students' concerns is crucial to ensuring ethical, equitable, and beneficial AI integration in pharmacy education and practice.

Entrustable professional activities-based objective structured clinical examinations in a pharmacy curriculum

BACKGROUND

The integration of Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) within the professional pharmacy program, contributes to assessing the readiness of pharmacy students for Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences (APPEs) and real-world practice.

METHODS

In a study conducted at an Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE)-accredited Doctor of Pharmacy professional degree program, 69 students in their second professional year (P2) were engaged in OSCEs. These comprised 3 stations: best possible medication history, patient education, and healthcare provider communication. These stations were aligned with Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) and Ability Statements (AS). The assessment aimed to evaluate pharmacy students' competencies in key areas such as ethical and legal behaviors, general communication skills, and interprofessional collaboration.

RESULTS

The formulation of the OSCE stations highlighted the importance of aligning the learning objectives of the different stations with EPAs and AS. The evaluation of students' ethical and legal behaviors, the interprofessional general communication, and collaboration showed average scores of 82.6%, 88.3%, 89.3%, respectively. Student performance on communication-related statements exceeded 80% in all 3 stations. A significant difference (p < 0.0001) was found between the scores of the observer and the SP evaluator in stations 1 and 2 while comparable results (p = 0.426) were shown between the observer and the HCP evaluator in station 3. Additionally, a discrepancy among the observers' assessments was detected across the 3 stations. The study shed light on challenges encountered during OSCEs implementation, including faculty involvement, resource constraints, and the necessity for consistent evaluation criteria.

CONCLUSIONS

This study highlights the importance of refining OSCEs to align with EPAs and AS, ensuring a reliable assessment of pharmacy students' clinical competencies and their preparedness for professional practice. It emphasizes the ongoing efforts needed to enhance the structure, content, and delivery of OSCEs in pharmacy education. The findings serve as a catalyst for addressing identified challenges and advancing the effectiveness of OSCEs in accurately evaluating students' clinical readiness.

A Call to Action for Integrating Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experiences With Purpose

Introductory pharmacy practice experiences (IPPEs) are essential to exposing students to contemporary pharmacy practice and promoting advanced pharmacy practice experience readiness. An IPPE curriculum should be sequenced and progressive, with IPPE experiences built upon each other and coordinated with the didactic curriculum. Pharmacy programs are faced with several internal and external challenges that can influence the design and implementation of their IPPE curriculum. Periodic IPPE curricular review is imperative as new challenges arise and existing challenges abate. Pharmacy programs should use a systematic and holistic process to evaluate and revise their IPPE programs. It is an opportune time to begin this process, with new standards being released in 2024. This commentary describes common challenges associated with integrating a high-quality IPPE program into a Doctor of Pharmacy curriculum along with potential solutions, with the intention for individual programs to use this as a tool to guide IPPE evaluation and revision.

Pharmacy Students' Perceived Ability to Implement the Pharmacist's Patient Care Process before and after a Redesigned Case Study Series in the United States

Since the incorporation of the Pharmacist's Patient Care Process (PPCP) into the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy standards, the process has been integrated in a variety of ways across curriculums. A two-semester case-based course was redesigned as a four-semester case-based course formally integrating the PPCP. Pharmacy students completing the original, two-semester course series and those completing the first two semesters of the redesigned course were given a voluntary survey to assess their perceived ability to integrate the PPCP into practice after the completion of each course. A total of 107 pharmacy students, 61 students completing the original series and 46 students completing two semesters of the redesigned series, completed the survey. The pharmacy students completing the redesigned, four-semester course series had a significantly higher perception of their ability to integrate the PPCP into patient care compared to the students completing the original series. This included the perceived ability to ask appropriate questions, identify medication-related problems (MRPs), document MRPs, and develop a plan for addressing MRPs. A significant difference was found in the students' perceived ability to ask pertinent questions in an appropriate manner, identifying and documenting MRPs, managing and solving MRPs, and documenting patient interactions. No significant difference was identified regarding the students' perceived ability to document the interaction or ensure that treatment-related plans were implemented. The students' perception regarding the importance of asking pertinent questions, identifying MRPs, and documentation in patient care did not differ between the cohorts. The case-based course series redesigned from two to four semesters with formal integration of the PPCP resulted in an increase in the students' perceptions of their ability to integrate the PPCP into patient care.

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.

The role of active learning methods in teaching pharmaceutical care - Scoping review

Background

The pharmacists in a community pharmacies have already provided, or will provide in the near future advanced pharmaceutical care services. This requires modifying the approach to teaching pharmacy students as well as adapting the curriculum to the changing professional realities. It has been proven that in the field of medical and related sciences, learners-centered active teaching methods allow to achieve learning outcomes effectively, especially in the field of practical skills.

Objectives

As the pharmaceutical services are only being introduced in many European countries, the question arises as to what active learning methods to use to prepare pharmacy graduates for this. Thus the review of worldwide literature occurred to be helpful in identifying what active learning methods are being used specifically in teaching aspects of pharmaceutical care.

Methods

Three electronic databases: Pubmed, Scopus and Web of Science were searched using the keywords "active learning" and "pharmaceutical care".

Results

On the basis of the publications included in the review, 7 methods were distinguished. Case-study, role play and simulation exercises turned out to be the most popular. It was also possible to make preliminary conclusions on how to properly match the method to the learning outcomes. Moreover, a weak point of many studies was the lack of structured methods of assessing the skills acquired by the students.

Conclusions

In conclusion, the curriculum renewal in pharmacy is necessary and requires taking many aspects into account, from the types of tasks assigned to pharmacists, through the selection of appropriate teaching methods, to the verification of assessment methods.

Drivers of Research Outcomes in Developing Countries: The Case of Lebanon

This paper uses a unique dataset from Lebanon, a developing country with unstable political conditions, to explore the drivers of research outcomes. We use the Negative Binomial model to empirically examine the determinants of the total number of publications and single and co-authored articles. The results indicate that males are more likely to publish co-authored papers than females. Moreover, our findings show a quadratic relationship between age and the number of published papers with a peak at the age of 40. After this turning point, the publication rate starts to decrease at an increasing rate. When we run the model by gender, we find that females in large departments tend to publish more co-authored papers. We also find that full professors tend to publish more papers in Q1 and Q2 journals, while associate professors have more papers in Q2 and Q3 journals.