Abstract
Objectives: To determine whether an innovative Mini-Series training model originally developed for preceptors could be beneficial to pharmacy students prior to and/or after beginning their introductory or advanced pharmacy practice experiences.
 Methods: This program consists of twelve incremental video episodes, each ranging from five to eight minutes in length. It tells the story of a young pharmacy preceptor as she guides a third and fourth year student through a challenging six-week clinical hospital rotation. Two to three reflection questions were written for each individual episode, focusing on student issues portrayed in the videos. Two-hour viewing sessions, consisting of all (12) video episodes and facilitated student reflection were held for 2nd – 4th year professional students on two campuses. At conclusion of each session, students completed a short evaluation to gauge the effectiveness and potential application of the Mini-Series program.
 Results: Fifty-six (56) students (22 fourth-year, 6 third-ear, and 28 second-year) participated in the voluntary viewing sessions. All students either agreed or strongly agreed that the Mini-Series program was entertaining and educational. In addition, 82% of students strongly agreed this program would be beneficial for students prior to taking their first experiential rotation, while only 47% strongly agreed it would be beneficial after they had started rotations. On a 5-point Likert scale (1=strongly disagree, 5=strongly agree), participants reported a mean of 4.6 that this medium is more effective than traditional lecture orientations held by the Office of Experiential Programs. On three open-ended questions, students provided a diversity of suggestions for enhancing the Mini-Series to make it more effective for students.
 Implications: The “Mini-Series” model was well received by students as a training medium to deliver educational content. As a result, more programs are being developed utilizing this innovative teaching method to help prepare students for future experiential rotations.
 Conflict of Interest
 The authors report no conflicts of interest or financial incentives to disclose related to this project. Dr. Craig D. Cox conceptualized, developed, and directed the Mini-Seriesprogram described in the manuscript. All funding for and all income generated by the program studied is the property of the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Pharmacy.
 
 Type: Original Research
Highlights
Introductory (IPPE) and advanced (APPE) pharmacy practice experiences make up approximately one third of pharmacy colleges’ and schools’ curricula
From the medical education literature, these findings suggest that use of both live and self-directed, online orientations could be acceptable means for training
The study was approved by the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) Institutional Review Board as an exempt research study
Summary
Introductory (IPPE) and advanced (APPE) pharmacy practice experiences make up approximately one third of pharmacy colleges’ and schools’ curricula. Preceptors are responsible for supervising students on these experiences. Recognizing a majority of the preceptors in the United States are not full-time faculty and likely have not completed a formal teaching development program, the need for preceptor development is high. To meet this need, there is a diversity of preceptor training programs currently available. Given the diversity of preceptor approaches to learning, an innovative preceptor training program was developed that was based on core adult learning principles. Three instructional design principles, (1) providing an authentic context,[1,2] (2) offering a diversity of content,[3] and (3) engaging and maintaining attention, were foundational to this concept.[4,5] It was coined a Mini-Series and has been described in more detail earlier.[6]
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