Enhancing skills in patient care documentation and transfer of care: An example of intra-professional collaboration across pharmacy schools through video-conferencing

Abstract

Documentation of care is a challenging skill to teach, especially when assessments are performed by individuals with familiarity with the case being documented. We designed an activity utilizing peer-review of documentation by students unfamiliar with the patient case, to better replicate real-life interprofessional communications. Pharmacy students from the University of Waterloo and the University of Alberta were provided anonymized notes from a group of students at the other institution. Groups met via video-conference to provide feedback and ask questions about the notes they received. Students were surveyed on their confidence and skills in documentation prior to and following the activity, and also submitted reflections on the experience, which were assessed using qualitative content analysis. Improvements in students’ self-perceived documentation skills showed slight improvement after versus before the activity; however, student reflections were highly positive and showed a change in perspective from documentation being considered something to be done for the documenter׳s personal reference, to something that is invaluable to seamless care transitions between professionals and care settings. Students commonly receive feedback from peers and instructors; however, educators should consider the added benefit of offering feedback from the perspective of individuals unfamiliar with the patient case and from different institutions.