Neighborhood Geographical Factors and the Presence of Advanced Community Pharmacy Practice Sites in Greater Chicago

Abstract

Objectives. To determine the availability of experiential learning opportunities in culturally diverse areas and to identify opportunities and barriers to attract and sustain sites for the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy. Methods. Utilizing variables of census tract income, racial/ethnicity composition and crime index, data analyses included descriptive statistics and multivariate logistic regression. Faculty members involved in experiential education were interviewed to identify other factors influencing site placement and selection for community-based advanced pharmacy practice experiences (APPEs). Results. Median family income and Asian population were significantly higher and black population was significantly lower in census tracts with community APPE sites than in census tracts without APPE sites (p , 0.05). No significant differences were found in the population variables of white and Latino populations and crime index. The Asian population variable was the only significant predictor of an APPE site (p 5 0.0148) when controlling for other variables. Distance from the College, pharmacy staffing issues, goodwill, influence of district and corporate managers, and strategic initiatives were critical considerations in site establishment and overall sustainability. Conclusion. Advanced community pharmacy practice sites were fairly well distributed across metropolitan Chicago, indicating that exposure to diverse populations during the advanced community practice experiences parallels with strategic College objectives of expanding and diversifying experiential sites to enhance pharmacy students' abilities to meet emerging patient care challenges and opportunities.

An investigation of strategies enhancing the public health role of community pharmacists: a review of knowledge and information

“…Also related to this, the findings of another US study[15] determined, among other things, the availability of experiential learning opportunities in culturally diverse areas. The paper argues that exposure to diverse populations during advanced community practice experiences has parallels with the strategic college objectives of expanding and diversifying experiential sites to enhance pharmacy students’ abilities to meet emerging patient‐care challenges and opportunities.…”

“…While majority of the identified papers originated from the USA (21, 58.3%), there was a significant gap in the UK evidence base (seven papers, 19.4%), particularly for those themes where no UK papers were identified (see Table ; for definition of categories, see Table ). In terms of the composition of the empirical studies, it was noticed that majority of the identified papers used a quantitative approach in their study, while only three papers (8.3%) used a mixed‐method approach [13–15]. There was also a significant gap in the quality of evidence of the papers reviewed – only one literature review study was identified [16].…”

“…In terms of the limitations of the identified studies, there were instances where the studies were not piloted,[14,30,34,53,62,67,68,70,71,74] where ethical considerations[27,30,67] and consent approval[24,27,30,31,41,58,62,67,68,70,73] were not discussed, as well as instances where the sample size was either not stated[68] or the response rate was low [24,27,73,74]. In some of the papers, the outcome measures,[14,15,27,44,45,58,72–74] recommendations for further studies[14,30,34,53,67,71,73] and limitations of the studies[13,45,67,68] were not discussed. These factors may therefore limit the generalisability of our findings.…”

COVID-19 Disruptions in Health Professional Education: Use of Cognitive Load Theory on Students' Comprehension, Cognitive Load, Engagement, and Motivation

“…Traditional didactic lectures are often viewed as a “sage on the stage method” because they are teacher- centered, and students are passive recipients of information ( 2 ). As such, the traditional didactic lecture approach has long been criticized for its inability to stimulate deep learning and knowledge acquisition ( 3 – 6 ). Despite these criticisms, a review of the roles of lectures in higher education revealed that lectures are still an important and relevant teaching method, particularly because they offer meaningful benefits, including pedagogical (i.e., content framework of a subject), practical (i.e., listening and notetaking skills), and social (i.e., cost effective and shared communal understanding) in nature ( 7 ).…”

A Roadmap for Educational Research in Pharmacy

“…49 A common example of mixed methods research in pharmacy education involves the use of qualitative data from focus groups or interviews to triangulate or provide further insight into findings from surveys, data models, or questionnaires. 50,51 …”