Health advocacy: A gulf between instruction and practice.

BACKGROUND: Systematic ways to teach health advocacy, an educational outcome for pharmacy graduates, is lacking. We developed a workshop to facilitate understanding and application of a novel structured framework for health advocacy and explored how pharmacy students enacted opportunities for health advocacy during subsequent outpatient experiential training. EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY AND SETTING: A two-hour workshop was introduced for year 2 students in 2019. Its content was organized around a health advocacy framework. With patient and faculty facilitators, students worked through examples characterized into the framework's four quadrants: 1) shared advocacy "with patients" at the individual- or 2) systems-level and 3) directed advocacy "for patients" at the individual-or 4) systems-level. We then conducted a longitudinal diary study asking pharmacy students (N = 23) to reflect on opportunities to practice health advocacy skills in community pharmacy practice. A systematic, multi-coder reflexive thematic analysis of diary entries was employed. FINDINGS: Pharmacy students did not express a fulsome view of patient health advocacy and mischaracterized self-reported practice examples into inappropriate categories of the health advocacy framework. Most overemphasized usual pharmacist care as acts of health advocacy. No systems-level activities were undertaken, although isolated episodes of shared advocacy with patients were identified. SUMMARY: Lasting impacts of a health advocacy workshop in our pharmacy curriculum were not widely apparent. While longer training periods in community pharmacy practice may yield more opportunities to develop and enact this role, gaps in student conceptualization of health advocacy and inabilities to practically observe and exercise system-level advocacy are ultimately problematic for patient care.

Pharmacy Students Practicing Health Advocate Competency Roles in Workplace-Based Training.

OBJECTIVE: Health advocacy competency roles are found in the educational outcomes of many health disciplines, yet their development is neglected in the professional curriculum and clinical learning environment. We explored how pharmacy students conceptualize health advocacy through their practice in workplace-based learning and any feedback they receive. METHODS: We conducted a longitudinal diary study of Canadian pharmacy students completing Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences in hospital and community practices in their graduating year. At pre-determined intervals, 25 students recorded workplace-based activities they recognized as health advocacy and any feedback they received from supervisors, patients, or other staff. Written diary data from 180 records were analyzed by 5 researchers according to inductive content analysis steps and principles. RESULTS: Pharmacy student records reflecting health advocacy roles were organized into 5 categories including, (1) disease prevention; (2) health promotion; (3) seamless care; (4) usual pharmacist care; and (5) professional advocacy. Although many activities were consistent with current competency role descriptions, they do not reflect educational outcomes associated with patient- or systems-level support necessary to address socio-political determinants of health. Although Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience in training evaluation reports included scores for items related to health advocacy competency, few students confirmed receiving specific written or verbal feedback. CONCLUSION: Pharmacy students construct health advocacy roles in workplace-based training through biomedical-oriented practices with little direct input offered by supervisors. Pharmacy educational outcomes require contemporary updates to health advocacy competency descriptions which offer examples for practical enactment at system-level and recommendations for feedback and assessment.

Real Patient Participation in Workplace-Based Assessment of Health Professional Trainees: A Scoping Review.

The aim of this scoping review is to outline the existing landscape of how real patients participate in the workplace-based assessment of trainees across diverse healthcare professions. In 2019-2020, the authors searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, ERIC, and Web of Science databases for studies that included descriptions of experiences whereby patients received care from a health professional trainee and participated in workplace-based assessments of that trainee. Full-text articles published in English from 2009 to 2020 were included in the search. Of the 8770 studies screened; 77 full-text articles were included. Analysis showed that strategies for patient participation in workplace-based assessment varied widely. Aspects studied ranged from validation of an assessment tool to evaluation of the impact of an educational intervention on trainees' performance. Assessment of patient satisfaction was the most common approach to patient involvement. The majority of studies were conducted in North America and in the context of physician training. Formal patient participation in the assessment of health professional trainees appears heterogeneous across health professions. Gaps in the literature are evident; therefore, this review points to an inclusive approach to workplace-based assessment to ensure patient feedback of the trainees who care for them is represented.

Assessment of the attitude, awareness and practice of periprocedural warfarin management among health care professional in Qatar. A cross sectional survey.

It is estimated that 10-15% of oral anticoagulant (OAC) patients, would need to hold their OAC for scheduled surgery. Especially for warfarin, this process is complex and requires multi-layer risk assessment and decisions across different specialties. Clinical guidelines deliver broad recommendations in the area of warfarin management before surgery which can lead to different trends and practices among practitioners. To evaluate the current attitude, awareness, and practice among health care providers (HCPs) on warfarin periprocedural management. A multiple-choice questionnaire was developed, containing questions on demographics and professional information and was completed by187 HCPs involved in warfarin periprocedural management. The awareness median (IQR) score was moderate [64.28% (21.43)]. The level of awareness was associated with the practitioner's specialty and degree of education (P = 0.009, 0.011 respectively). Practice leans to overestimate the need for warfarin discontinuation as well as the need for bridging. Participants expressed interest in using genetic tests to guide periprocedural warfarin management [median (IQR) score (out of 10) = 7 (5)]. In conclusion, the survey presented a wide variation in the clinical practice of warfarin periprocedural management. This study highlights that HCPs in Qatar have moderate awareness. We suggest tailoring an educational campaign or courses towards the identified gaps.