Pharmacists’ Participation in the Development of an Experiential Program

Abstract

Experiential programs need input and feedback from the practice community in order to keep the student learning outcomes optimized. A proactive combined effort between practice and academia makes sense and assists the students in transition from school to practice. Understanding some basic accreditation concepts can help the practicing pharmacist align student learning experiences with the expected outcomes. This article highlights some basic accreditation concepts from the Accreditation Council on Pharmacy Education's 2007 standards that apply to experiential training in the pharmacy profession.

Experiential learning in oral health education

“…Experiential learning is an ideal method to promote behavior changing development of skills, ideas, and values[ 28 ] and can be a useful tool in health education in general. However, its use in health sciences is limited mainly to health students' (nursing, pharmacy, medical, or dental schools) and health professionals' education[ 29 30 31 32 ] since experiential learning was developed as an adult educational method. [ 4 33 ] In health science schools, students live experiences through simulation, clinical practice, peer tutoring, and review of cases in the literature.…”

“…[ 5 34 ] In pharmaceutical and medical schools, experiential learning was found to enhance students' knowledge and to help them develop a positive attitude regarding patient communication and health promotion. [ 30 31 ] Experiential learning has been greatly used in nursing education in the mode of service learning. This type of experiential learning is based on experiences that students live by serving the community.…”