OHP-022 Advances in pharmacy education: evaluation of a ward-based clinical teaching course

Abstract

Background The pharmacy profession is changing towards patient-centred care. To meet the new challenges but also to drive the profession forward it is necessary to provide students with clinical competencies. Clinical courses with teacher practitioners are part of the pharmacy curriculum in countries like the UK or USA and are increasingly being established within Europe. 1 Purpose To systematically evaluate the benefits of clinical teaching in our country: a quasi-randomised teaching and learning study. Material and methods A clinical teaching course on a psychiatric ward was created for small student groups. Learning aims included: communication, drug histories, drug-related problems and counselling. The control group only participated in the theoretical part while the intervention group took part in the complete course. The effects were assessed by an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) and a student questionnaire. Results The intervention group achieved a significantly better overall result in the OSCE assessment (46.4 ± 9.5 vs. 28.2 ± 9.0 of 90 points; p Conclusion The results suggest significant learning benefits from the ward-based course created. The overall satisfaction was high. Inclusion in the pharmacy curriculum should be considered. Further studies are required to optimise course structure. Reference Ramos RG. Eur J Hosp Pharm 2014; 21 :A119 This work was supported by Bayerische Akademie fur Klinische Pharmazie/Dr. August und Dr. Anni Lesmuller-Stiftung, Munich, Germany. The authors are grateful for the expert advice of Dr. Freidank, Fulda Hospital, Germany and PD Dr. Frobenius, MME, Erlangen University Hospital, Germany. No conflict of interest.