Discussion
The concentrated learning experiences at WFBH and CMC were designed to
help students strengthen their clinical and professional skills in
preparation for post-graduate training and advanced pharmacy practice
roles. Students reported significant improvement in all skills
self-assessed. These findings complement prior research showcasing that
pharmacy school and health-system partnerships facilitate participant
growth and multidisciplinary engagement.7-8,10
Students were able to meet program goals through the unique experiences
offered during the concentrated learning program. Previous studies
highlighted similar opportunities with networking, publication,
research, and presentations contributing to the satisfaction of
students.6-7 Additionally, the consistency of the
programs allowed the students to focus on rotations and deliver advanced
patient care as opposed to repeated onboarding and becoming acquainted
with new facilities.7-8,10 Our findings show a single
skill development (medical team engagement) resulted in a significant
difference in median skill development between programs. These results
may be skewed due to fewer students at CMC. Importantly, students from
this single university received similar perceived program benefits,
across the board, at two separate healthcare systems. This is promising
news for schools or colleges dependent on unaffiliated facilities for
experiential education.
A strength of this study was the assessment of students’ perceived
clinical and professional skills both pre- and post-completion of the
concentrated learning experience. In this regard, the results reveal
students’ perceptions of the development of their professional and
clinical skills during the APPE year, which is currently lacking in the
literature. Experiential education is an ideal setting to employ
self-reflection to support development in learning and allow students to
witness their improvement in practice skills.
There are limitations to the study. Students without hospital experience
may not easily adjust to the new environment and therefore may report a
poorer baseline experience. Also, there was no assessment of how the
preceptor evaluated the student and whether that may have led to a
poorly perceived experience by the student. Thus, a student may be more
likely to report a negative experience because of a poor grade received
on rotation. Lastly, there was a difference in the number of
participants at each site which may have led to variance between
results.
Future analysis could include correlations of students’ GPA, prior
pharmacy experience, and grade on rotation to show the potential impact
of students’ perceived skill development. Likewise, further expansion of
the current program to offer more IPPE and APPE partnerships could be
explored. A prior study showed improved APPE performance for students
assigned to the same facility during IPPE rotations, as compared to
students assigned to separate facilities.11 Lastly, a
comparison of licensure pass rates in students participating in a
concentrated program versus nonparticipants could yield interesting
findings.