Objective. To develop, implement, and assess student performance and confidence in a pharmacy capstone course that used case-based instruction and the Pharmacist's Patient Care Process (PPCP) to develop patient work-up skills in third-year Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) students. Methods. A skills-based capstone course was developed by a team of faculty members and instructional designers that focused on patient evaluation skills and applying the steps of the PPCP to complex patient cases housed in a simulated electronic health record (SEHR). The acuity of the cases increased over the course of the semester. For each patient case, students were expected to identify drug-related problems and develop an assessment and plan based on the information provided in the SEHR. Results. Students (n5134) were assessed through weekly quizzes and two practical examinations. The average score for all quizzes was 81%. A significant correlation was found between average quiz scores and performance on the end-of-course practical examination. Student scores significantly improved from the first to the second practical examination (10.4 vs 12.9, respectively), and student confidence with regard to all course objectives significantly improved from the beginning to the end of the semester. Conclusion. A capstone course that applied the PPCP framework successfully taught third-year PharmD students the patient care skills they would need in advanced pharmacy practice experiences.

Objective. To evaluate how flexible learning via online video review affects the ability and confidence of first-year (P1) pharmacy students to accurately compound aseptic preparations. Design. Customary instructions and assignments for aseptic compounding were provided to students, who were given unlimited access to 5 short review videos in addition to customary instruction. Student self-confidence was assessed online, and faculty members evaluated students' aseptic technique at the conclusion of the semester. Assessment. No significant difference on final assessment scores was observed between those who viewed videos and those who did not. Student self-confidence scores increased significantly from baseline, but were not significantly higher for those who viewed videos than for those who did not. Conclusion. First-year students performed well on final aseptic compounding assessments, and those who viewed videos had a slight advantage. Student self-confidence improved over the semester regardless of whether or not students accessed review videos.

IntroductionThe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic caused colleges of pharmacy to abruptly change teaching strategies mid‐semester in Spring 2020 due to campus closure and transition to remote learning. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of pandemic‐induced remote learning on student skill acquisition in a third year pharmacy student (P3) Pharmacists' Patient Care Process (PPCP) capstone course.MethodsStudent performance on weekly quizzes and mid‐term and final practical examinations were evaluated before and after implementation of remote learning in 2020 and were compared with a previous class in 2019. Paired and anonymous student perceptions of their skill development were also compared within the same semester and between years. Independent sample and paired Student's t tests were used to compare means, the Pearson correlation was used to identify associations between continuous variables, and nonparametric tests were used to compare ordinal data.ResultsIn 2020, student performance was significantly higher on quizzes at the end of the semester after implementation of remote learning compared with pre‐remote learning (8.2 ± 1.6 vs 7.7 ± 1.8 points, P < .05). Students performed significantly worse on the final examination compared with the mid‐term examination (21.2 ± 5.4 vs 23.4 ± 5.3 points, P < .05) in 2020. Students also performed significantly worse on the final examination in 2020 compared with 2019 (21.3 ± 5.4 vs 23.1 ± 5.4, P < .01). In both 2019 and 2020, students rated their ability to meet course objectives higher at the end of the semester compared with the beginning of the semester (P < .05).ConclusionThe COVID‐19 pandemic‐related changes in course delivery, participation, and assessment had a mixed effect on development of a systematic process for patient work‐up skills using the PPCP. Students progressed throughout the semester on early PPCP patient work‐up skills, but performance decreased when higher level skills or later PPCP steps were assessed and was lower compared with a previous offering of the course.