Center for the Advancement of Pharmacy Education 2013 Educational Outcomes

Objective. To qualitatively analyze free-text responses gathered as part of a previously published survey in order to systematically identify common concerns facing pharmacy experiential education (EE) programs. Methods. In 2011, EE directors at all 118 accredited pharmacy schools in the US were asked in a survey to describe the most pressing issues facing their programs. Investigators performed qualitative, thematic analysis of responses and compared results against demographic data (institution type, class size, number of practice sites, number and type of EE faculty member/staff). Expert and novice investigators identified common themes via an iterative process. To check validity, additional expert and novice reviewers independently coded responses. The Cohen kappa coefficient was calculated and showed good agreement between investigators and reviewers.Results. Seventy-eight responses were received (66% response rate) representing 75% of publicly funded institutions and 71% of schools with class sizes 51-150. Themes identified as common concerns were site capacity, workload/financial support, quality assurance, preceptor development, preceptor stipends, assessment, onboarding, and support/recognition from administration. Good agreement (mean percent agreement 93%, ƙ range50.59-0.92) was found between investigators and reviewers. Conclusion. Site capacity for student placements continues to be the foremost concern for many experiential education programs. New concerns about preceptor development and procedures for placing and orienting students at individual practice sites (ie, "onboarding") have emerged and must be addressed as new accreditation standards are implemented.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Qualitative Analysis of Common Concerns about Challenges Facing Pharmacy Experiential Education Programs

Danielson

Craddick

Eccles

et al. 2015

“…21,22 The process skills and team-based activities associated with the POGIL strategy provide a means to achieve the CAPE 2013 Outcomes of producing learners, problem solvers, collaborators, and communicators. 23 This study was designed to assess the effectiveness of the POGIL strategy on enhancing students' problemsolving and critical-thinking skills in a required course in the professional pharmacy program. Introduction to Pharmaceutical Sciences is a first professional (P1) year course designed to integrate foundational material from the biological and chemical sciences into an understanding of the basis for drug behavior in the body.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Process-Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning Strategy Enhances Students’ Higher Level Thinking Skills in a Pharmaceutical Sciences Course

Soltis

Verlinden

Kruger

et al. 2015

Objective. To determine if the process-oriented guided inquiry learning (POGIL) teaching strategy improves student performance and engages higher-level thinking skills of first-year pharmacy students in an Introduction to Pharmaceutical Sciences course. Design. Overall examination scores and scores on questions categorized as requiring either higherlevel or lower-level thinking skills were compared in the same course taught over 3 years using traditional lecture methods vs the POGIL strategy. Student perceptions of the latter teaching strategy were also evaluated. Assessment. Overall mean examination scores increased significantly when POGIL was implemented. Performance on questions requiring higher-level thinking skills was significantly higher, whereas performance on questions requiring lower-level thinking skills was unchanged when the POGIL strategy was used. Student feedback on use of this teaching strategy was positive. Conclusion. The use of the POGIL strategy increased student overall performance on examinations, improved higher-level thinking skills, and provided an interactive class setting.Keywords: POGIL, active learning, process skills, instructional assessment INTRODUCTIONDeveloping students' critical-thinking and problemsolving skills is an educational goal common to perhaps every academic program or discipline. Critical to achieving this goal is the use of teaching and learning strategies that engage students and promote development of the process skills of application, analysis, and evaluation. Yet, despite a growing body of evidence demonstrating the efficacy and superiority of active-learning strategies and national reports calling for the adoption of these methods, 1-4 instructional strategies in science and math disciplines tend to be passive, leading to student disengagement and contributing to the "leaky pipeline" of science. [5][6][7][8][9] The reasons science faculty members give for being reluctant to adopt active-learning strategies include the significant amount of time needed to prepare materials, the reluctance to reduce the amount of material covered, and the perception that students are unwilling to engage in or prepare for these types of classroom activities. [10][11][12] In the pharmacy academy, active-learning strategies are recognized as important to achieving educational outcomes and, therefore, widely adopted in professional programs. [13][14][15] However, the use of active-learning strategies is not uniformly distributed. Faculty members in the biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences are 3 times less likely than faculty members in the clinical and social and administrative sciences to use these techniques. 15 Process-oriented guided inquiry learning (POGIL) is a teaching strategy that was initially developed in college chemistry and biology courses and is used successfully to engage students in the classroom and to promote learning. [16][17][18][19][20] The POGIL strategy begins with introducing students to a model, diagram, problem, or set of data and then requires them to ...

“…Academic pharmacy support for TBL implementation can also be found in the most recent Center for the Advancement of Pharmaceutical Education outcomes, with specific emphasis on problem solving and communication. 32 This change in educational methodology was initially time intensive, requiring content revision, double teaching for 1 year, and conversion from a 2-to 3-semester model. Students may have felt they were in American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education 2014; 78 (7) Article 142.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Multiyear Analysis of Team-Based Learning in a Pharmacotherapeutics Course

Johnson

Bell

Bottenberg

et al. 2014

Objectives. To evaluate the impact of team-based learning (TBL) in a pharmacotherapeutics course on pharmacy students' ratings of faculty instructors and the course, and to assess students' performance after implementation of team-taught TBL. Design. Teaching methodology in a pharmacotherapeutics course was changed from a lecture with recitation approach in 2 semesters of a 6 credit-hour course to a TBL framework in a 3-semester 31415 credit hour course. The distribution of faculty of instruction was changed from 4 faculty members per week to 1 faculty per 1-credit-hour module. TBL consisted of preclass study preparation, readiness assurance (Individual Readiness Assessment Test and Group Readiness Assessment Test), and in-class application exercises requiring simultaneous team responses. Assessment. Retrospective analysis of student ratings of faculty and instructional methods was conducted for the 2 years pre-TBL and 4 years during TBL. Final course grades were evaluated during the same time period. Student ratings showed progressive improvements over 4 years after the introduction of team-based learning. When aggregated, ratings in the "excellent teacher" category were unchanged with TBL compared to pre-TBL. Improvements in faculty instructor approaches to teaching were noted during TBL. Group grades were consistently higher than individual grades, and aggregate course grades were similar to those prior to TBL implementation. Conclusion. Implementation of TBL in a pharmacotherapeutics course series demonstrated the value of team performance over individual performance, indicated positive student perceptions of teaching approaches by course faculty, and resulted in comparable student performance in final course grades compared to the previous teaching method.