Experiential Placements: Nurturing Interactive Pharmacists By Planning and Scaffolding for Improved Communication

Abstract

Background: Universities' pharmacy experiential placements are important in bridging the theory-practice connection, with learning 'just happening' from being in the actual environment with patients and practitioners and reflecting on events with students. There is an expectation that preceptors will support and accelerate this process by coaching for specific skills and giving explicit feedback. The university's role involves using comprehensive planning and aligning learning with outcomes including graduate attributes and professional competencies. The development of communication skills requires scaffolding and nurturing to ensure students develop into interactive professionals. Aim: To map pharmacy experiential placement programs (objectives, learning and assessment, evaluation strategies) across Australian universities; to highlight successful practices; and to identify areas for improvement and quality indicators. Method: This qualitative study used semi-structured interviews with staff from pharmacy schools to map experiential placement programs and identify practices and issues, as well as, focus group consultations with professional/registration organisations, student representatives and preceptors. University experiential placement handbooks were analysed, with key categories and issues emerging through thematic data analysis. Results: Consultations with over 250 participants and handbooks' analyses indicated a range of structures and approaches for pharmacy experiential placements. To develop communication and patient counselling skills some universities use elements of a planning process but consistent use of comprehensive planning and scaffolding was not evident. Conclusion: The need for planning and scaffolding of learning was highlighted, including university-based role play practices at the pre-placement stage, linked closely with demonstrations and explicit feedback from preceptors during placements and feedback and discussion at the debriefing stage.

Medication Safety: Experiential Learning for Pharmacy Students and Staff in a Hospital Setting

“…Experiential placements aim to provide accelerating learning, help students to reflect and apply learning to new contexts, building on their theoretical knowledge [9,10]. The student handbook outlines the requirements for each area of the placement.…”

“…Undergraduate students are placed with hospital pharmacists over a two-week period, exposing students to a variety of clinical areas and specialties. Experiential placements aim to provide accelerating learning, help students to reflect and apply learning to new contexts, building on their theoretical knowledge [ 9 , 10 ]. The student handbook outlines the requirements for each area of the placement.…”

A Virtual Practice Environment to Develop Communication Skills in Pharmacy Students

“…However, there are still inherent limitations, including lack of a holistic approach; use of only 1 or 2 delivery methods rather than the integration of several to cater for students' different learning styles 37 ; lack of attention given to intercultural training, which is essential for meeting the health and pharmaceutical care demands of Australia's rapidly growing and multiethnic population 38 ; and lack of scaffolding to suit the communication needs of students at various stages of the curricula. 39 While the mock pharmacy environment at Monash University allowed students to practice their skills using facilities such as the counter placed next to the dispensary when counseling a patient regarding a prescription, and had been regularly updated to reflect changing treatment guidelines and social and cultural variations in the community, the dispensary itself was underused because medicines used in the tutorials expired; changed in appearance, strength, or form; became irreplaceable for regulatory reasons; or were taken off the Australian market. Further, the curriculum could no longer be effectively delivered in the mock pharmacy because of the physical layout, insufficient space, expanding technology demands, and lack of professional practice resources.…”