Creation and delivery of a clinical pharmacy practice and education program for international participants in the United States

Abstract

IntroductionUniversity of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) College of Pharmacy has a long history of collaborating with institutions around the world to advance pharmacy practice and education through offering programs for practice skills enhancement and curricula transformation.ObjectivesTo develop a short‐term summer program on contemporary clinical pharmacy practice and education for pharmacy students and pharmacists, initially from Taiwan, and subsequently expanded to other countries.MethodsWe developed a month‐long program in 2013 for 25 participants from four different universities, which has continued annually for 7 years, with 349 total participants from 10 regions. The program included topics on basic clinical skills, therapeutic management of common disease states, descriptions of unique clinical pharmacy practice models, and patient case‐based teaching. Baseline self‐evaluations of the participants' skills, clinical understanding, and past experiences were conducted, along with weekly program self‐evaluations of the program content, speaker effectiveness, and overall program satisfaction.ResultsA 89% response rate was received for the program evaluations. The mean overall program content was rated at least a 4.4 out of a 5‐point Likert scale every year. Self‐rated comfort level measured before and after program completion showed improvement in all areas including taking medication histories, interviewing patients, writing SOAP notes, taking blood pressures, interpreting lab values, performing inhaler teaching, monitoring warfarin, and performing pediatric dosing (P < .01 for all pre‐ and post‐comparisons). The participants rated the overall program quality as high every year (mean 4.4‐4.9), and the usefulness and organization as well (mean 4.4‐4.8 and 4.3‐4.8, respectively). In addition, most participants reported a high likelihood of recommending the program to others (mean 4.4‐4.9).ConclusionParticipants reported that the summer program increased their clinical skills and knowledge. The enhanced understanding of clinical practice and education in the United States may help shape their future academic and professional development.