A survey of pharmacy experiential learning in substance dependence

Nationwide survey of experiential learning in MPharm programmes in UK Universities

“…One of the barriers underlined by respondents was the lack of QA of tutors, which was also ranked as the third most important challenge related to EL by our respondents. Similarly, several studies have reported that tutor training was challenging . It is, however, imperative that tutors are provided with sufficient training and support to ensure the quality of the tutoring delivered to students, and enable them to tutor students effectively …”

“…Hospitals are reluctant to take on students mainly due to limitations in logistics, shortage of pharmacists, difficulty balancing between professional duties and teaching students, and the challenge of training large student numbers . Obtaining/retaining community placements was ranked as the fifth most important challenge, and indeed, this has been highlighted by several universities in various countries …”

“…several studies have reported that tutor training was challenging. [13,25,35] It is, however, imperative that tutors are provided with sufficient training and support to ensure the quality of the tutoring delivered to students, and enable them to tutor students effectively. [26,36] Countries such as the USA, [21,[37][38][39][40] Qatar [36] and Australia [26] have established tutor training programmes.…”

“…[22,42] Obtaining/retaining community placements was ranked as the fifth most important challenge, and indeed, this has been highlighted by several universities in various countries. [10,14,25,32,35] While schools face increasing difficulty in finding placement sites at hospitals and community pharmacies due to the increase in demand, the GPhC has not stipulated that placements are limited to these two settings. [3] Governments and stakeholders have recommended that pharmacists should be used to relieve pressure in critical areas of the healthcare system such as emergency departments and doctors' surgeries.…”