Educational Methods and Technological Innovations for Introductory Experiential Learning Given the Contact-Related Limitations Imposed by the SARS-CoV2/COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Background: Acute respiratory syndrome related coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has led to substantial changes in pharmacy curricula, including the ability to provide in-person introductory experiential practice experiences (IPPEs) to University of Colorado’s International-Trained PharmD (ITPD) students. Methods: The IPPE course for ITPD students was redesigned to offer remote educational activities in the health system setting and simulated practice and communication activities in the community setting. Students were evaluated via surveys regarding the perceived value of these changes, and changes in knowledge, skills and abilities before and after activities. Results: A total of 6 students were enrolled in the revised IPPE course. Students agreed or strongly agreed that the overall distance-based IPPE experience, the remote health system activities, and the community activities were valuable. Students also strongly agreed that course design successfully met course outcomes and was relevant to pharmacy practice. In terms of knowledge, skills and abilities, numeric improvements were observed in remote health system activities and community-based simulated patient interactions, but results were not statistically significant. A high baseline level of knowledge led to minimal improvements in perceptions of improvement in community pharmacy skills regarding pharmacy simulation software. Conclusion: Implementation of distance-based IPPE activities may be an alternate educational modality.

Perceptions of Pharmacy Students on the E-Learning Strategies Adopted during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review

“…Similarly, only around half of the pharmacy students (or a slightly more than half of the students in some cases) manifested positive perceptions on specific online courses during the COVID-19 pandemic (e.g., an anatomy and histology course; a virtual microbiology simulation; chemistry crossword puzzles as revision aids) [7,[44][45][46]. Moreover, students' understanding may have been affected in one study [7], and knowledge acquisition was not statistically different between both settings (i.e., in-person vs. online education) in another study [43]. Pharmacy students expressed positive perceptions of an online communication course, which may have been influenced by students previous e-learning experience [47].…”

“…However, only around half of the pharmacy students presented a positive perception of the adopted e-learning strategies [6]. Students declared to prefer in-person over online activities, although they agreed with the offer of remote health system activities in the future [43].…”

COVID-19-Driven Improvements and Innovations in Pharmacy Education: A Scoping Review

“…Overall, student experiences were positive and there was a high level of satisfaction with the materials presented. Most students felt that clear connections made between didactic knowledge and application of this knowledge within the training and that the virtual experiences helped them better understand relevance to pharmacy practice [26][27][28][29][30][31][32]. The collective data indicate that the most valuable aspects of the virtual APPE experiences were patient case presentations, journal clubs, topic discussions, and formal written assignments.…”

Disadvantages of using Traditional, Interactive and Distance Learning Methods when Studying the Specialty "Pharmacy"

“…The largest numbers of studies about distance learning were conducted in the United States. Applied experience of simulation inter professional education and telemedicine technology based on simulation using robot 11 , simulation of emergency medical care in children using remote assistance 12 , audience questioning system through mobile applications (ARS) during lectures and classes 13 , 3-station remote Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCEs) 14,15 , pharmacy simulation software 16 . Digital technologies and smartphones have been used for biomedical research, where the main problem is the retention times the participants.…”