Mapping Course Assessments to Canadian Pharmacy Educational Outcomes to Ensure Pharmacy Students' Practice Readiness.

Objective. The entry-to-practice PharmD degree is designed to meet the Educational Outcomes of the Association of Faculties of Pharmacy of Canada (AFPC). We set out to evaluate how assessment strategies in a "capstone" course align with AFPC educational outcomes, their respective key and enabling competencies, and whether enough assessments exist for students to demonstrate achievement of competencies prior to embarking on advanced pharmacy practice experiences.Methods. We mapped each assessment's objectives, content, and methods to the key and enabling competencies of each role of a pharmacist. The number of enabling competencies mapped represents the extent to which the assessment addressed the associated key competency and broader role. Deidentified student performance data were analyzed to identify achievement of competencies despite failed assessments.Results. Of the seven role descriptions, the roles care provider, communicator, and collaborator were the most comprehensively assessed. The roles leader-manager and health advocate were assessed to a limited extent. The role scholar was not covered to a great depth across assessments. The role professional was not represented in most assessments except for the final examination. Students with failed assessments generally had ample opportunity to demonstrate competencies through other assessments.Conclusion. Mapping assessments to AFPC educational outcomes is an essential step to demonstrate direct evidence that students have achieved the intended learning outcomes. Our map revealed that the assessments sufficiently overlapped with most AFPC educational outcomes with a few exceptions. It is important to create multiple opportunities within a course for students to demonstrate achievement of competencies to ensure practice readiness.

Development of communication tool for resident- and family-led care discussions in long-term care through patient and family engagement.

BACKGROUND: Effective communication between residents (older adults), families, and the healthcare team supports person-centred care. However, communication breakdowns can occur that can impact care and outcomes. The aim of this paper is to describe a feedback approach to developing a communication tool for residents and families to guide information sharing during care discussions with the healthcare team in long-term care. METHODS: Development of the communication tool included consultation with key stakeholders for their feedback and input. Following initial development of the tool template by our research team, we invited feedback from our study collaborators. Next, individual interviews and a focus group were conducted with family members, followed by individual interviews with selected residents from two long-term care homes in Ontario, Canada. Participants were asked to provide input and feedback on the tool's content and usability and to share ideas for improving the tool. Content analysis was used to analyse the interview data. RESULTS: Feedback from residents and family included suggestions to enhance the tool's content and use of plain language, and suggestions for potential application of the tool. CONCLUSION: Feedback highlighted the value of engaging residents and family members in the development of a communication tool. The communication tool offers a structured format to support participation of residents and families in information sharing for care discussions with the healthcare team.

Self-Rated Health by Sexual Orientation Among Middle-Aged and Older Adults in Canada.

OBJECTIVES: This article examines patterns of self-rated physical and mental health by sexual orientation among middle-aged and older adults in Canada, a rapidly growing subpopulation shown to be at risk of poor health. METHOD: We use the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS 2015-2016) to estimate logit models predicting fair/poor self-rated physical and mental health by sexual orientation among middle-aged and older adults, stratifying by sex and age group. RESULTS: We find no differences in physical health for gay men and lesbian women compared with their heterosexual counterparts. However, middle-aged gay men are disadvantaged in terms of mental health, but not women. Bisexual women are disadvantaged in terms of physical health, and for mental health in some model specifications. Respondents who did not know their sexual orientation have poorer health across some measures of health and age groups. DISCUSSION: Our findings add to the paucity of research on older sexual minorities in Canada. They highlight the importance of separating out sexual minority groups because bisexual women have distinct health profiles. In addition, this is the first study to examine the health of respondents who "do not know" their sexual orientation, and future research should distinguish between different explanations for their poor health.