Accommodating Pharmacy Students With Physical Disabilities During the Experiential Learning Curricula.

Accommodating pharmacy students with physical disabilities during the experiential learning portion of the Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) curriculum can present unique challenges for pharmacy schools. The available literature regarding accommodations for pharmacy students in the experiential learning environment is sparse, leaving programs with little guidance. This commentary from the Big Ten Academic Alliance calls on the Academy to create a community of shared resources and best practice examples and offers practical suggestions for accommodating pharmacy students with mobility, vision, and auditory disabilities during introductory pharmacy practice experiences (IPPEs) and advanced pharmacy practice experiences (APPEs).

Pharmacy Students Teaching Prescription Writing and Nonprescription Product Selection to Medical Students.

Objective. To measure the impact of an interprofessional education intervention in which pharmacy students provided education to medical students. Methods. In a required workshop, fourth-year pharmacy students taught second-year medical students the basics of prescription writing. In a subsequent selective education session, the pharmacy students led a case-based discussion on nonprescription drug use for third-year medical students on their family medicine rotation. The pharmacy students were surveyed in regards to confidence in teaching abilities before and after the prescription writing workshop and the medical students were surveyed in regards to confidence with activity and teaching effectivess prior to and after the completion of the workshop or selective. Results. At the end of the workshop, second-year medical students were more confident in their abilities to write prescriptions and fourth-year pharmacy students were more confident in their ability to teach prescription writing. Based on survey responses, the second-year medical students and fourth-year pharmacy students were confident in the learning environment effectiveness throughout the activity. After participating in the selective education session, third-year medical students were more confident in their ability to access resources on nonprescription drugs and in making recommendations to and counseling patients regarding nonprescription drug use. Conclusion. The perception is that pharmacy students can be effective interprofessional educators for medical students on key aspects of the medical curriculum.