Evaluation of a Continuing Professional Development program for first year student pharmacists undergoing an Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experience

Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of the study was to evaluate a live and online training program for first year pharmacy students in implementing Continuing Professional Development (CPD) principles (Reflect, Plan, Act, and Evaluate), writing SMART learning objectives, and documenting learning activities prior to and during a hospital introductory professional practice experience.
 Design: Cohort Study.
 Setting: Introductory professional practice experience.
 Participants: First year (PY1) students at the University of North Carolina Eshelman School of Pharmacy.
 Intervention: Live training or online training to introduce the concept of Continuing Professional Development in practice.
 Main Outcomes: Implementation of CPD principles through 1) completed pre-rotation education action plans with specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound (SMART) learning objectives; and 2) completed learning activity worksheets post-rotation indicating stimuli for learning, resources used and accomplished learning. objectives; and 3) documented suggestions and content feedback for future lectures and pharmaceutical care lab experiences.
 Results:Out of the whole cohort (N=154), 14 (87.5%) live (in person) trainees and 122 (88%) online trainees submitted an education action plan. Objectives were scored using a rubric on a scale of 1-5. A rating of 5 means "satisfactory", 3 means "work in progress" and 1 means "unacceptable". There were significant differences between the mean live trainee scores and the mean online trainee scores for the following respective section comparisons: Specific 4.7 versus 3.29 (p
 Conclusion: Live trainees performed significantly better than online trainees in writing SMART learning objectives. With focused training, students are more capable of implementing principles of CPD.
 
 Type: Original Research

Use of SMART Learning Objectives to Introduce Continuing Professional Development Into the Pharmacy Curriculum

“…5 The CPD cycle used in this study was adapted with permission from the Ontario College of Pharmacists and follows the same approach. 6,7 Positive results have been reported with pharmacists trained in the CPD approach. In a 10-month study of licensed pharmacists employed at a health maintenance organization (HMO), a higher percentage of those randomized to CPD vs. CE reported that they had better interactions with other healthcare providers and initiated practice changes as a result of their educational activities.…”

“…Additional details have been previously described. 7 While the live CPD training module has been effective for pharmacists, it was offered to students on a voluntary basis because of the challenge of training more than 100 students in a short timeframe prior to the start of summer practice experiences. 6 CPD Webcasts on the ACPE Web site were available to students who opted not to participate in live training.…”

“…In this study, which included PharmD students from the classes of 2013 and 2014, student achievement of SMART goals was evaluated using a standardized rubric. 7 In preparation for the study, 2 instructors from the school's Division of Pharmacy Practice and Experiential Education who had been trained during the North Carolina ACPE CPD pilot programs were chosen to serve as CPD mentors. 10 The school's hospital and community IPPEs are month-long experiences that take place in the summer following the first and second years, respectively.…”

“…For consistency, preidentified student SMART learning objectives were scored using the modified rubric described by Tofade and colleagues. 7,20 Points for each of the 5 SMART sections were summed for a grade out of 100 possible points. These grades were then tabulated and analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, and variances).…”

“…7 The second year of this study incorporated a revised method of educating students on how to write SMART goals and evaluated how changes in training strategy affect students' abilities to write these goals. 7 The hypothesis of this study was that PharmD students would show improvement writing SMART goals and that CPD would be incorporated throughout the PharmD curriculum.…”