Health-system implementation of a collaborative core curriculum for advanced pharmacy experiential education during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Purpose A collaborative advanced pharmacy practice experience (APPE) education model established within a healthcare institution during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is described. Summary The COVID-19 pandemic caused a nationwide disruption of APPE pharmacy education. Healthcare institutions faced the challenge of educating APPE students while attempting to simultaneously de-densify work areas and reduce transmission risk for employees and patients. A pharmacist coordinator and pharmacist academic partners at a large teaching hospital created a collaborative common core curriculum model for resourceful implementation of APPE education. Healthcare network pharmacists, clinical pharmacist academic partners, and pharmacy residents delivered the curriculum to 35 pharmacy students over a 9-week time period. Main components of the curriculum included patient case discussions, topic discussions, journal club presentations, live continuing education (CE) webinars, and development of pharmacy technician CE programs. A majority of students reported positive experiences working with a variety of preceptors from different specialties (81%) and collaborating with students from other universities (62%). Conclusion A health system can leverage institutional, network-wide, and academic partner resources to implement a collaborative APPE curriculum during challenging times such as those experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19-Driven Improvements and Innovations in Pharmacy Education: A Scoping Review

“…Overall, student experiences were positive and there was a high level of satisfaction with the materials presented. Most students felt that clear connections made between didactic knowledge and application of this knowledge within the training and that the virtual experiences helped them better understand relevance to pharmacy practice [26][27][28][29][30][31][32]. The collective data indicate that the most valuable aspects of the virtual APPE experiences were patient case presentations, journal clubs, topic discussions, and formal written assignments.…”

“…The collective data indicate that the most valuable aspects of the virtual APPE experiences were patient case presentations, journal clubs, topic discussions, and formal written assignments. Students did not rate written reflections as valuable as the other rotation assignments [26][27][28]. In the study by Montepara et al, students noted that they appreciated working with a variety of preceptors from different specialties and practice settings within the same virtual APPE rotation experience [28].…”

“…Students did not rate written reflections as valuable as the other rotation assignments [26][27][28]. In the study by Montepara et al, students noted that they appreciated working with a variety of preceptors from different specialties and practice settings within the same virtual APPE rotation experience [28]. Common student concerns included anxiety about a lack of adequate patient care experience, and many students noted that virtual APPE activities should not completely replace in-person APPE rotations [26,31].…”

“…Common student concerns included anxiety about a lack of adequate patient care experience, and many students noted that virtual APPE activities should not completely replace in-person APPE rotations [26,31]. Suggestions for improvement included standardizing how information is disseminated to multiple students for virtual presentations and the virtual platforms used [28].…”

Development of a Campus-Wide Community Service Initiative during a Pandemic

“…The necessity of virtual classrooms led to an increase in “flipped-classroom” teaching for content delivery [ 15 , 16 ]. APPE rotations were modified or developed to have major online components or become completely virtual [ 17 , 18 ]. One area key to pharmacy education that did not adapt well to the limitations of the COVID-19 pandemic was community service.…”