Objective. To assess the effect of incorporating virtual patient activities in a pharmacy skills lab on student competence and confidence when conducting real-time comprehensive clinic visits with mock patients. Methods. Students were randomly assigned to a control or intervention group. The control group completed the clinic visit prior to completing virtual patient activities. The intervention group completed the virtual patient activities prior to the clinic visit. Student proficiency was evaluated in the mock lab. All students completed additional exercises with the virtual patient and were subsequently assessed. Student impressions were assessed via a pre-and post-experience survey. Results. Student performance conducting clinic visits was higher in the intervention group compared to the control group. Overall student performance continued to improve in the subsequent module. There was no change in student confidence from pre-to post-experience. Student rating of the ease of use and realistic simulation of the virtual patient increased; however, student rating of the helpfulness of the virtual patient decreased. Despite student rating of the helpfulness of the virtual patient program, student performance improved. Conclusion. Virtual patient activities enhanced student performance during mock clinic visits. Students felt the virtual patient realistically simulated a real patient. Virtual patients may provide additional learning opportunities for students.

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Objective. To evaluate students' performance/attitudes toward a flipped team-based learning (TBL) format in a "very large" self-care course based on student content delivery preference. Design. Third-year students enrolled in the course were surveyed regarding elements of redesign and homework completion. Additionally, their performance and incoming grade point average were evaluated. Assessment. A survey was completed by 286 of 305 students. Nineteen percent of respondents preferred traditional content delivery, whereas 30% preferred flipped TBL, 48% preferred a mixed format, and 3% had no preference. The grades achieved in the course were: A (49%), B (48%), C (3%) and D (0%). The majority completed "all" or "most" of the homework, appreciated attributes of course redesign, felt home preparation and in-class activities engaged them, and reported improved communication/evaluation skills. Content delivery preference significantly affected attitudes. Conclusion. Students positively received a flipped team-based learning classroom format, especially those who preferred flipped TBL or mixed content delivery. A minority with preference for traditional teaching style did not enjoy the new format; however, their academic performance did not differ significantly from those who did.

This study compared the disintegration times of three immediate-release pain-relief tablets, ibuprofen (200 mg), tramadol HCl (50 mg), and hydrocodone bitartrate-acetaminophen (5 mg/500 mg), in different beverages (milk, calcium-fortified orange juice, commercial iced coffee, and regular Coca-Cola) with those in water using the USP disintegration apparatus. A hybrid medium prepared by blending 640 mL fat-free or 2% milk at 5.0 ± 1.0 °C with 160 mL of 0.1 N hydrochloric acid (HCl) at 39.0 ± 0.5 °C was proposed to better mimic human gastric content after tablet ingestion. The hybrid preparation was then used as the medium in USP dissolution Apparatus 2 to test these pain medications. The results show that the delay of the hydrocodone bitartrate-acetaminophen tablet disintegration in the hybrid media was less extensive than in straight milk (16.46 ± 0.65 min, n = 3 versus 31.94 ± 2.26 min, n = 6 when fat-free milk was used). Significant foam formed in both straight and hybrid fat-free milk. There was less foaming when the same tests were conducted in the USP dissolution apparatus. The ascending and descending motion of a USP disintegration apparatus may facilitate ambient air contact with fat-free milk, resulting in foam formation. If also true in vivo, it reflects a potential problem of hindered drug absorption.

The goal is to examine if there is a relationship between students’ Resilience Scale for Adults (RSA) Scale scores, demographics, work experience, leadership style, personality types and academic performance. Three cohorts of third-year pharmacy (P3) students completed the RSA and demographic questions. Students’ academic performance, work experience, leadership preferences and demographics were compared. Over 850 students from three cohorts scored on five RSA dimensions – personal competence (4.10 ± 0.58), social competence (3.64 ± 0.75), family coherence (4.18 ± 0.73), social support (4.47 ± 0.59) and personal structure (3.93 ± 0.70) (5 = highest resilience). Social competence and personal structure scores were statistically significantly different from other dimensions. Students with greater work experience, preference for leadership and extroverted personality types had higher scores in social competence and personal structure. Based on this research, it is essential to foster leadership development and encourage work experience to support students in building relationships (social competence) and improving organizational skills (personal structure), since the lowest RSA scores were in these two domains.