Abstract
BackgroundThe pharmacy profession has shifted towards patient-centred care. To meet the new challenges it is necessary to provide students with clinical competencies. A quasi-experimental single-blinded teaching and learning study was carried out using a parallel-group design to evaluate systematically the benefits of clinical teaching in pharmacy education in Germany.MethodsA clinical pharmacy course on a psychiatric ward was developed and implemented for small student groups. The learning aims included: the improvement of patient and interdisciplinary communication skills and the identification and management of pharmaceutical care issues. The control group participated only in the preparation lecture, while the intervention group took part in the complete course. The effects were assessed by an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) and a student satisfaction survey.ResultsThe intervention group achieved significantly better overall results on the OSCE assessment (46.20 ± 10.01 vs. 26.58 ± 12.91 of a maximum of 90 points; p < 0.0001).The practical tasks had the greatest effect, as reflected in the outcomes of tasks 1–5 (34.94 ± 9.60 vs. 18.63 ± 10.24 of a maximum of 60 points; p < 0.0001). Students’ performance on the theoretical tasks (tasks 6–10) was improved but unsatisfying in both groups considering the maximum score (11.50 ± 4.75 vs. 7.50 ± 4.00 of a maximum of 30 points; p < 0.0001). Of the students, 93% rated the course as practice-orientated, and 90% felt better prepared for patient contact. Many students suggested a permanent implementation and an extension of the course.ConclusionsThe results suggest that the developed ward-based course provided learning benefits for clinical skills. Students’ perception of the course was positive. Implementation into the regular clinical pharmacy curriculum is therefore advisable.
Highlights
The pharmacy profession has shifted towards patient-centred care
Raw data of the objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) assessment are provided in Additional file 1
For the first time, a systematic investigation of a wardbased clinical education course fully integrated into the curriculum was conducted in German pharmaceutical education
Summary
To meet the new challenges it is necessary to provide students with clinical competencies. The pharmaceutical profession has rapidly changed in Germany: pharmacists increasingly provide patient-centred care beyond the traditional medication-dispensing role in both ambulatory and hospital care. The low ratio of hospital pharmacists - 0.37 pharmacists/100 patient beds - and the lack of remuneration for patient-centred care in community pharmacies clearly show that Germany still has a long way to go until high-quality clinical pharmacy services become a widespread standard in health care [12]. To enable the generation of pharmacists to meet these new challenges and allow them to drive the profession actively forward, new clinical competencies and skills must be taught using new teaching methods in German clinical pharmacy academic education
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