Students’ and preceptors’ experiences and perceptions of a newly developed community pharmacy pharmaceutical care clerkship
Keywords:
Community clerkship, evaluation, pharmaceutical care, preceptorAbstract
Introduction: A new, senior year community pharmaceutical care (PC) clerkship experience was introduced at the University of British Columbia. The objective of this project was to analyze the students’ and preceptors’ experiences with the newly developed clerkship.
Materials and methods: A qualitative approach using survey instruments was utilized to obtain feedback from students and preceptors.
Results: Over 85% of the student and preceptor surveys were returned. While students ranked their clerkship experience high, more than 25% remarked that they were disappointed with the depth and breadth of the opportunities provided to hone PC related skills. The preceptor surveys supported the students’ results. One of the most common request made by preceptors was for the university to offer workshops where the clerkship expectations and processes could be clarified.
Discussion: Although both students and preceptors approved of the clerkship syllabus, the experience fell short of providing students with a fully effective learning experience.
References
Association of Faculties of Pharmacy of Canada (AFPC). (2004). AFPC educational outcomes for a baccalaureate pharmacy education in Canada, Canada 1998, Available at: http//.www/afpc.info/downloads/association/Outcomes%20Un- dergraduate%2019988.pdf.
Aviram, M., Ophir, R., Raviv, D., & Shiloah, M. (1998). Experiential learning of clinical skills by beginning nursing students: “Coaching” project by fourth-year student interns. Journal of Nursing Education, 37, 228–231.
Beck, D. E., Thomas, S. G., & Janer, A. L. (1996). Introductory practice experiences: A conceptual framework. American Journal of Pharmacy Education, 60, 122–130.
Broadhead, R. S., & Facchinetti, N. J. (1985). Clinical clerkships in professional education: A study in pharmacy and other ancillary professions. Social Science and Medicine, 20(3), 231–240.
Cerulli, J. (2003). Reaching beyond the pharmacy bench: Impressions of academic community pharmacy practice. Journal of the American Pharmaceutical Association, 43, S10–S14.
Cerulli, J., & Briceland, L. L. (2004). A streamlined training program for community pharmacy advanced practice preceptors to enable optimal experiential learning opportunities. American Journal of Pharmacy Education, 68, Article 09.
Hepler, C. D., & Strand, L. M. (1990). Opportunities and responsibilities in pharmaceutical care. American Journal of Hospital Pharmacy, 47, 533–543.
Joyner, P. U. (1993). How to motivate pharmacy students and residents. American Journal of Hospital Pharmacy, 50, 1850 – 1853.
Kassam, R. (2003). Focus group methodology to develop a community pharmaceutical care clerkship program. American Journal of Pharmacy Education, 67, Article 88.
Kassam, R., Farris, K. B., Cox, C. E., Volume, C. I., Cave, A., Schopflocher, D. P., & Tessier, G. (1999). Tools used to help community pharmacists implement comprehensive phar- maceutical care. Journal of the American Pharmaceutical Association, 39, 843–856.
Kennedy, D. T., Ruffin, D. M., Goode, J. V. R., & Small, R. E. (1997). The role of academia in community-based pharmaceu- tical care. Pharmacotherapy, 17, 1352–1356.
Polo, I., Triplett, J. W., & Aceves-Blumenthal, C. (1994). Integrated clinical geriatric pharmacy clerkship in long term acute and ambulatory care. American Journal of Pharmacy Education, 58, 165 – 171.
Weisman, F. G., Oppenheimer, P. R., Adamcik, B., & Mortazavi, E. (1984). The development and implementation of a community pharmacy clerkship. American Journal of Pharmacy Education, 48, 170 – 174.
