Student pharmacist

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Effective communication skills are essential for all pharmacists, regardless of practice setting. An implicit need in pharmacy education is to emphasize direct application of these skills to future healthcare practice prior to experiential rotations. The aim of this article is to describe how we revised a required first professional year (P1) doctor of pharmacy course to achieve two main goals: 1) improve the course relevance by connecting content to real-world skills; and 2) qualify all pharmacy students at our institution as certified National Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) lifestyle coaches upon course completion...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: To investigate final-year student pharmacists' experiences of a new module for North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination® (NAPLEX®) preparation at one college of pharmacy in the United States. EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY AND SETTING: All student pharmacists enrolled in a new Spring 2023 module for NAPLEX preparation (n = 118) were invited to complete an electronic questionnaire and participate in a semi-structured interview...

OBJECTIVE: To determine the final year pharmacy undergraduate students' attitudes toward research after completing a research project. METHODS: A research project was introduced in the final year of the PharmD program in January 2022. After a period of one year, in Janurary 2023, students submitted their final research to the faculty members. The survey was conducted from 1st March to 30st April 2023 using a study tool that contained items asking students' demographic, their research perceptions, attitude and experience, and also motivation/barriers faced during the research project...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: This study was designed to determine whether a virtual, self-care activity improved knowledge and confidence in third-year student pharmacists. EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY AND SETTING: Third-year student pharmacists (n = 386) from three institutions participated in the virtual self-care simulation during their respective practice laboratory course. A pre- and post-assessment collected 10 knowledge and five confidence questions, self-reported on 0-100 scale, mapped to learning outcomes and pharmacy standards...

INTRODUCTION: Limited information is available regarding whether malleable factors such as critical thinking skills are associated with academic performance among underrepresented minority pharmacy students. This study assessed the relationship between critical thinking skills and grade point average (GPA) among pharmacy students attending a Historically Black College. METHODS: A cross sectional study design was utilized to evaluate the association between student's GPA and critical thinking skills...

BACKGROUND: Systematic ways to teach health advocacy, an educational outcome for pharmacy graduates, is lacking. We developed a workshop to facilitate understanding and application of a novel structured framework for health advocacy and explored how pharmacy students enacted opportunities for health advocacy during subsequent outpatient experiential training. EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY AND SETTING: A two-hour workshop was introduced for year 2 students in 2019. Its content was organized around a health advocacy framework...

BACKGROUND: Effective communication with patients and colleagues is key to a pharmacist's ability to provide effective person-centered care. Neurodivergent patients face many barriers when interacting with health professionals; increased awareness and understanding are therefore paramount to the pharmacist's role. This paper describes an innovative teaching partnership between a school of pharmacy and an inclusive theater company which aims to develop awareness and skills of undergraduate pharmacy students in relation to communicating with patients with autism and/or learning disabilities...

Pharmacy preceptors are pivotal to facilitating and maximizing student learning on experiential rotations. However, preceptors may encounter a variety of behaviors or barriers that can hinder student success. Although some guidance exists for preceptors, emerging learner challenges along with new educational outcomes call for an updated practical approach to promoting student success on rotations. This paper provides preceptors with a structured approach to facilitate success for students who exhibit challenges on rotations...

OBJECTIVE: To determine adjunct pharmacist preceptor perceptions of their precepting role related to three domains: motivation to precept, understanding the precepting role, and support for precepting. METHODS: An online cross-sectional survey of 2,429 adjunct preceptors for four schools of pharmacy was conducted. Participants ranked their agreement with 81 statements regarding the three domains, including eleven subdomains. RESULTS: Mean scores for the three domains were slightly below the positive response level, with lower scores found for the subdomains of workload, precepting norms, and extrinsic benefits/rewards...

OBJECTIVE: To assess the impact of a virtual medication adherence training (VMAT) program on students' perceived confidence and perceived competency in delivering medication adherence services via telehealth. METHODS: This pilot pre-/post-observational study consisted of two subsequent sections: 1) four asynchronous self-study modules via Canvas (Instructure, Inc.) learning management system, and 2) two live application-based sessions involving virtual and telephonic standardized patients...

BACKGROUND: Gender bias is an enduring issue in the medical profession despite women being more represented within medical schools and the health care workforce in numerous countries across the world. There have been frequent calls for further exploration of gender-based discriminations within medical education, owing to its lasting impact on student's professional development and career trajectories. This paper presents an ethnographic exploration of the experiences of female medical students and doctors in the clinical learning environment (CLE), aiming to disrupt the cycle of gender inequity in the clinical workplace...

BACKGROUND: Artificial intelligence (AI) is a multidisciplinary science that aims to build software tools that mimic human intelligence. AI is revolutionizing pharmaceutical research and patient care. Hence, it is important to include AI in pharmacy education to prepare a competent workforce of pharmacists with skills in this area. OBJECTIVE: To integrate and utilize AI to teach core concepts in a medicinal chemistry course, and to increase the familiarity of pharmacy students with AI in pharmacy practice and drug development...

BACKGROUND: Female breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer, and knowledge of breast cancer risk factors, and symptoms is crucial for early diagnosis and prevention. This study aims to evaluate breast cancer awareness among female students at a pharmacy faculty in Turkey. METHODS: A cross-sectional online survey study was conducted among female students at the Suleyman Demirel University Faculty of Pharmacy between 2 November and 17 November 2023, in Isparta, Turkey...

INTRODUCTION: Promoting diversity among faculty, administrators, and librarians in schools and colleges of pharmacy (SCOP) would be beneficial for the recruitment and retention of students from diverse backgrounds. Graduating such diverse pharmacists could assist in reducing healthcare disparities. Promoting diversity requires a climate that is inclusive of people from all backgrounds. The goal of this study was to examine the working environment of historically marginalized faculty, administrators, and librarians within pharmacy education...

In Mongolia, the medical education system with a long history has developed with its characteristics since ancient times. Modern medical education, including pharmacy education, began to grow in 1921. Before modern pharmaceutical science developed in Mongolia, pharmacy and pharmacy education were part of Traditional Mongolian Medicine and education. Medical knowledge and experience were transferred from generation to generation through simple teaching. From the sixteenth century, Manba Datsan was established in religious temples to teach Mongolian medicine through discipleship...

INTRODUCTION: Extended reality (XR) technologies are an umbrella term for simulated-based learning tools that cover 3-dimensional technologies, including virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR). At King Saud University, first-year pharmacy students are required to experience hospital observational training during the Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experience (IPPE). We aimed to measure the effectiveness and satisfaction of the VR learning experience among IPPE students...

Pharmacists have many identities within the profession from medication experts, clinicians, educators, mentors, patient advocates, and more. It can be especially challenging for racially and ethnically minoritized persons (REMPs) to form a professional identity when they are surrounded by stereotypes and biases which are pervasive in the community, academia, and pharmacy practice settings. As pharmacist educators, preceptors, and mentors, it is important to create safer spaces that decrease stereotyping and biases for students so they may envision themselves thinking, acting, and feeling like a pharmacist...

BACKGROUND: Limited data are available on factors that are associated with passing rates for the Saudi Pharmacist Licensure Examination (SPLE). The aim of this study is to investigate student characteristics and academic performance characteristics that may predict their success on SPLE. METHODS: This was a single-institution retrospective cohort study, which included pharmacy graduates from 2019 to 2021. Demographic, academic, and SPLE data were collected for each graduate...

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the impact of a pharmacy student delivered presentation on prospective rural high school students' interest toward the pharmacy profession and knowledge regarding a career in pharmacy. METHODS: Presentations about applying to pharmacy school, the Doctor of Pharmacy degree, and pharmacist careers were given at ten high schools across North Dakota and Minnesota by third year pharmacy students attending North Dakota State University. Each pharmacy student presenter received training to ensure that all high school students received clear and consistent information...

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...