Improve Pharmacy Students Research Articles

An Exercise Prescription Course to Improve Pharmacy Students' Confidence in Patient Counseling

An Exercise Prescription Course to Improve Pharmacy Students' Confidence in Patient Counseling

Problem-based Learning Using the Online Medicare Part D Plan Finder Tool

To implement didactic and problem-based learning curricular innovations aimed at increasing students' knowledge of Medicare Part D, improving their ability to apply the online Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Finder tool to a patient case, and improving their attitudes toward patient advocacy for Medicare beneficiaries. A survey instrument and a case-based online Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Finder tool exercise were administered to a single group (n = 120) of second-year pharmacy graduate students prior to and following completion of a course on health policy. Three domains (knowledge, skill mastery and attitudes) were measured before and after two 90-minute lectures on Medicare Part D. The online Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Finder exercise and Medicare Part D didactic lectures had positive effects on students' knowledge of Part D, attitudes toward patient advocacy, and ability to accurately use the Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Finder tool. The success of these didactic and problem-based curricular innovations in improving pharmacy students' knowledge, skills, and attitudes regarding Part D warrants further evaluation to determine their portability to clinical settings and other pharmacy schools.

Impact ofPatient Empathy Modelingon Pharmacy Students Caring for the Underserved

To determine the impact of the Patient Empathy Modeling pedagogy on students' empathy towards caring for the underserved during an advanced pharmacy practice experience (APPE). Pharmacy students completing an APPE at 2 primary care clinics participated in a Patient Empathy Modeling assignment for 10 days. Each student "became the patient," simulating the life of an actual patient with multiple chronic diseases who was coping with an economic, cultural, or communication barrier to optimal healthcare. Students completed the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy (JSPE) before and after completing the assignment, and wrote daily journal entries and a reflection paper. Twenty-six students completed the PEM exercises from 2005-2006. Scores on the JSPE improved. Students' comments in journals and reflection papers revealed 3 major themes: greater appreciation of the difficulty patients have with adherence to medication and treatment regimens, increased empathy for patients from different backgrounds and patients with medical and psychosocial challenges, and improved ability to apply the lessons learned in the course to their patient care roles. A Patient Empathy Modeling assignment improved pharmacy students' empathy toward underserved populations. Integrating the assignment within an APPE allowed students to immediately begin applying the knowledge and insight gained from the exercise.

Improving Pharmacy Students' Understanding and Long-term Retention of Acid-Base Chemistry

Despite repeated exposure to the principles underlying the behavior of organic acids and bases in aqueous solution, some pharmacy students remain confused about the topic of acid-base chemistry. Since a majority of organic drug molecules have acid-base character, the ability to predict their reactivity and the extent to which they will ionize in a given medium is paramount to students' understanding of essentially all aspects of drug action in vivo and in vitro. This manuscript presents a medicinal chemistry lesson in the fundamentals of acid-base chemistry that many pharmacy students have found enlightening and clarifying.

Statewide evaluation of a tobacco cessation curriculum for pharmacy students

Background Previous studies suggest that healthcare professionals are inadequately trained to treat tobacco use and dependence. Because even brief interventions from clinicians improve patient quit rates, widespread implementation of effective tobacco cessation training programs for health professional students is needed. Methods Pharmacy students received 7–8 h of comprehensive tobacco cessation training. Participants completed pre- and post-program surveys assessing perceived overall abilities for cessation counseling, skills for key facets of cessation counseling (Ask, Advise, Assess, Assist, Arrange), and self-efficacy for counseling. Results A total of 493 students (82.3%) completed linkable pre- and post-training evaluations. Self-reported abilities, measured on a five-point scale, increased significantly from 1.89 ± 0.89 to 3.53 ± 0.72 ( P < 0.001). Twenty-two percent of students rated their overall counseling abilities as good, very good, or excellent before the training versus 94% of students after the training. Eighty-seven percent of students indicated the training will increase the number of patients that they counsel; 97% believed it will increase the quality of their cessation counseling. Conclusions Comprehensive training significantly improved pharmacy students' perceived confidence and ability to provide tobacco cessation counseling. The curriculum is applicable to other health professional training programs and currently is being used to train pharmacy, medical, nursing, and dental students.

Pharmacy Students' Perceptions of Pharmaceutical Care in Retail and Clinic Settings

Objectives. To determine whether completion of a patient counseling course improved pharmacy students' perceptions of the importance of pharmaceutical care and whether there was a difference in stu...

Intercultural Disposition and Communication Competence of Future Pharmacists

Objective. To determine the influence of an educational intervention on pharmacy students' intercultural disposition and perceived communication competence. Methods. The relationship between intercultural disposition and the intercultural communication competence of pharmacy students was assessed using a brief educational intervention in the form of a role-play and a pretest-posttest experimental design. Results. There was a strong correlation between intercultural disposition and intercultural communication competence (p 0.01). Among the 4 dimensions of intercultural disposition, attributional complexity was the only factor that moderated the effect of the intervention on pharmacy students' communication competence. Conclusion. Methods to improve pharmacy students' intercultural competence should be further explored. Other sections of the conceptual framework should be tested ...