Redesigned Entrustable Professional Activity (EPA) Assessments Reduce Grade Inflation in the Experiential Setting.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to evaluate the impact of redesigning an Entrustable Professional Activities (EPA) assessment tool on the accuracy of student performance assessment within pharmacy education. METHODS: The study utilized retrospective programmatic data for students on clinical rotations over a three-year period and compared entrustment levels assigned by preceptors to suggested entrustment levels. This tool was redesigned to separate formative EPA feedback from final grade determination. Data was analyzed with Chi-Squared tests to look for trends in students ABOVE, AT, or BELOW the suggested entrustment levels. Additionally, to account for variation in inter-cohort variability, the relationship between students ABOVE suggested level of entrustment and post-graduate metrics was examined. RESULTS: After implementation of the revised tool, there was a significant decrease (3%) in students scoring ABOVE suggested entrustment levels and an increase in students scoring AT (1%) or BELOW (2%). Individual patient care settings also exhibited changes, with a decrease in grade inflation and an increase in accurate assessments. NAPLEX pass rates, residency match rates, and grade point average did not correlate with entrustment levels. DISCUSSION: The redesigned EPA assessment tool demonstrated a decrease in grade inflation resulting in more accurate assessments. The tool's focus on holistic grading and narrative descriptors contributed to a better alignment between preceptor assessment and school suggested achievement levels. This study suggests that EPA assessments in pharmacy education could benefit from a stronger emphasis on formative feedback and the use of holistic assessment methods for final grade determinations. The findings underscore the potential advantages of considering a separation between EPA scoring and final grades, prompting the academy to explore their assessment practices to better reflect student performance in clinical experiences.

Assessment of Patient Care Activities and Readiness for Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences in Revised Third-Year Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experiences.

OBJECTIVE: To quantify the impact of a revised third-year (P3) introductory pharmacy practice experience (IPPE) curriculum on student opportunities for direct patient care and to evaluate student and preceptor perceptions of advanced pharmacy practice experience (APPE) readiness. METHODS: An intentional, structured curriculum redesign shifted 50 IPPE hours from each of the first- and second-years into the P3 year. A survey was developed and administered to students in the graduating classes of 2023 (original curriculum) and 2024 (revised curriculum) at the end of their first APPE rotation. The survey quantified the frequency of patient care activities completed during P3 IPPEs and assessed student perceptions of the effectiveness of P3 IPPEs in preparation for APPEs. At the conclusion of the first APPE, preceptors answered a single question assessing student APPE readiness. RESULTS: A total of 213/226 (94%) students responded to the optional survey. A significantly higher proportion of students in the 2024 cohort had the opportunity to complete several direct patient care activities compared to the 2023 cohort in community, institutional, and elective IPPEs. Additionally, the 2024 cohort was provided with greater access to the electronic health record (EHR). Although the 2024 cohort had higher perceived APPE readiness in areas of navigating the EHR and administering vaccines, student- and preceptor-perceived overall APPE readiness was similar between the 2 cohorts. CONCLUSION: Transferring more IPPE hours into the last didactic year can increase student opportunities for direct patient care while promoting APPE readiness. Activity quantification could be used by other pharmacy programs to optimize IPPEs.

Student pharmacist's application of the pharmacists' patient care process during an interprofessional diabetes camp introductory pharmacy practice experience.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: To describe student pharmacist's application of the Pharmacists' Patient Care Process (PPCP) during participation in an interprofessional introductory pharmacy practice experience (IPPE) at a Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) pediatric summer camp. EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY AND SETTING: Student pharmacists entering professional year two (P2) and three (P3) attended a one-week, overnight T1D summer camp as part of the longitudinal IPPE curriculum between June 2021 and July 2023. They completed two PPCP assignments, a reflective assignment and a self-evaluation following the experience. FINDINGS: Thirty-seven students attended camp. The most common PPCP assignments submitted corresponded to the collaborate core competency (75.6%) and the implement (51.4%) and collect (27.0%) steps. Written reflections revealed students learned about therapeutic monitoring of diabetes, hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia management, insulin dose adjustment, and lifestyle strategies such as carbohydrate counting. Many students expressed feeling increased empathy (59.5%) and inspiration (56.8%) toward individuals with T1D. Students reflected positively on their experience working with an interprofessional team. Self-evaluations indicated perceived competency in all steps and core areas of the PPCP, especially in communication. DISCUSSION: Overall, student feedback indicates inclusion of camp as a non-traditional pharmacy practice site provides ample opportunity to apply the PPCP through participation and interprofessional decision-making opportunities in patient care. Our findings demonstrate camp provided the ability to partake in activities that encompass every step and core component of the PPCP. Immersion in the camp environment allowed early learners to feel competent in their ability to engage in the PPCP and communicate with patients and healthcare professionals. SUMMARY: Participation in a T1D summer camp provided early student pharmacists exposure to direct patient care and opportunity to apply the PPCP in an interprofessional education environment. Students learned clinical diabetes knowledge and skills, in addition to increased empathy and a feeling of inspiration. Students felt highly competent in their ability to communicate with patients, pharmacists, and other healthcare providers.

A Snapshot of Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experience Program Characteristics.

OBJECTIVE: To provide schools and colleges of pharmacy a snapshot of Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experience (IPPE) program characteristics to generate and share ideas for IPPE program modifications to improve student learning outcomes and comply with Standards 2025. METHODS: A 41-item electronic survey was distributed to 140 Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education fully accredited schools and colleges of pharmacy in 2023. IPPE program characteristics such as structure, learning activities, assessments, and requirements were described. RESULTS: Eighty-seven programs participated in the survey (62.1% response rate). Notable findings included 64.4% of programs starting IPPEs during the first professional year, 78.6% did not count simulation hours toward Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education hour requirements, 24.1% incorporated patient care electives, over 90% incorporated various patient care activities, 40.2% exceeded a 2:1 student-to-preceptor ratio, 15.7% incorporated layered learning, 50.0% incorporated interprofessional education, 57.5% used summative assessment rubrics based on Entrustable Professional Activities, and 77.0% used pass/fail grading. CONCLUSION: Owing to evolving accreditation standards, the study provided valuable information about the current state of IPPEs. The study results included examples and components that programs can use to ensure that they comply with Standards 2025.

Effects of outdoor recreational physical challenges on general self-efficacy: A randomized controlled trial.

Outdoor programs involving recreational physical challenges are becoming increasingly popular for training and development purposes among adults, but rigorous studies investigating their effectiveness remain scarce. A randomized controlled trial was conducted to evaluate the effects of an outdoor adventure-based program on measures of self-efficacy, resilience, risk-taking propensity, and perceived stress. Participants were randomly assigned either to an intervention condition (half-day high ropes course) or a wait-list control group. Measures were taken at baseline and four days post-intervention and on the day to measure intervention perceptions. Significant increases in self-efficacy and risk-taking propensity were observed for the intervention arm compared to the control arm. Greater intervention engagement and affective valence ratings were associated with self-efficacy change. These findings highlight the practical relevance of adventure-based experiences for organizations and educational institutions seeking to enhance young adults' self-confidence. Additionally, they emphasize the importance of tailoring interventions to individual needs and ensuring positive participant experiences to achieve desired outcomes.

Improving Self-Perceived Competencies of Second-Year Pharmacy Students Through an Introductory Medication Reconciliation Rotation.

OBJECTIVE: Medication reconciliation (MedRec) is an essential health care function that is particularly relevant to pharmacists' expertise and a learning opportunity for pharmacy students. Our objective was to assess change across clinical competence, confidence, and communication skills after the completion of a MedRec rotation by second-year pharmacy students. METHODS: A retrospective post-then-pre-survey including 29 questions was developed/delivered to students after the completion of required MedRec hours. The primary end point was the change in 3 domains via summed scores from individual questions. Cohen's difference (d) was used to determine group effect size change. The secondary end points included individual question change, perceived patient impact, and subgroup analyses. RESULTS: Of 115 second-year pharmacy students, 81.7% (n = 94) participated in the study. Students self-reported increases on the Likert scale (0-10) of 2.49 ± 1.90 in clinical competency domain, 3.57 ± 2.13 in confidence domain , and 3.12 ± 2.15 in communication skills domain, representing statistically significant and large group effect changes across all 3. A total of 21 of the 22 individual questions had large group effect changes; 1 question (nursing communications) had a moderate group effect change. Student perception of MedRec impact on patient care (Likert scale 0-10) was positive: post-rotation score 7.39 ± 1.57. CONCLUSION: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first larger-scale study that examines student-evaluated outcomes of a MedRec-based rotation. Students self-reported high levels of post-rotation competency across all domains; students from ethnic minorities and with less work/MedRec experience increased their lower pre-rotation scores to statistically similar post-rotation scores, compared with non-minority and more experienced peers. Further study of the model and outcomes is advised.

Students empowering pharmacist provided contraception services: An APPE student perspective on service development.

PURPOSE: This reflection aims to highlight the ambulatory care setting and its impact on pharmacy student experiential education through student involvement in developing a contraception pharmacy service. Although pharmacist-prescribed contraception has been permitted through collaborative practice agreements (CPA) for some time, the recent enactment of Indiana House Bill 1568 has sparked interest amongst students in promoting this service and enhancing accessibility.1. DESCRIPTION: This manuscript invites readers into the dynamic experience of two Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience (APPE) students engaged in developing and implementing a pharmacist-prescribed contraception service within an ambulatory care clinic. They address the creation, implementation, and feedback of students participating in developing this service throughout their four-week rotation. ANALYSIS/INTERPRETATION: Their experience contributes valuable insights into the evolving field of ambulatory care and its educational potential for student pharmacists. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: This reflection is a testament that such initiatives have valuable benefits not only for students but also for health systems, clinics, and the broader community. In the future, the authors hope to see more students collaborating with experienced preceptors to design ambulatory practice protocols and services across various fields of expertise.

Rational Redesign of an Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experience Curriculum.

OBJECTIVE: To utilize a process to identify strengths and weaknesses of an introductory pharmacy practice experience (IPPE) curriculum from stakeholder perspectives and undergo IPPE curricular revision. METHODS: An IPPE curriculum redesign taskforce was created, and a 5-step systematic quality improvement process was developed and applied to redesign an IPPE curriculum. The steps were to identify existing curriculum challenges and strengths, determine potential solutions to challenges, redesign IPPE curricular structure, obtain stakeholder input and support, and redesign IPPE content. Throughout these steps, surveys were administered, and feedback was solicited from stakeholder groups through focus groups and meetings. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Qualitative data were analyzed using inductive content analysis and peer debriefing to identify themes. RESULTS: Student survey and focus group results identified desires to limit student-preceptor negotiations when scheduling hours, decrease conflict between IPPE hours and scheduled classes, and increase direct patient care opportunities. Structural revisions included transition of IPPE hours from the first and second year of the program into the third year, revising course schedule grids to allow third-year students 1 day per week to complete hours, and aligning rotation dates during class-free times. Curricular content was strengthened through curricular mapping, threading, and course coordinator collaborations. CONCLUSION: A 5-step IPPE redesign systematic quality improvement process utilizing solicitation, analysis, and incorporation of stakeholder feedback was used to revise an IPPE curriculum to maintain framework and content strengths and address weaknesses. Other pharmacy programs could utilize this process to redesign their IPPE curriculum.

How Preceptors Support Pharmacy Learner Professional Identity Formation.

OBJECTIVE: Pharmacy preceptors play a role in helping learners form professional identities during experiential education. However, it is not clear what specific roles and precepting strategies best foster professional identity formation (PIF). The objective of this study was to explore how preceptors support pharmacy learner PIF. METHODS: This qualitative study used an interpretative descriptive approach. Preceptors from 5 experiential education programs were recruited using purposive sampling for individual semistructured interviews. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, coded, and analyzed by thematic analysis. Team members used a reflective and iterative approach for data analysis and generation of themes. RESULTS: A total of 22 participants were interviewed from various pharmacy practice settings and precept a range of learners, including introductory pharmacy practice experiences, advanced pharmacy practice experiences, and residents. Four main themes were identified to support pharmacy leaner PIF: making learners part of the practice and team, preparing learners to assume the role of a pharmacist, helping learners navigate emotions during practice experiences, and supporting learners in finding the right fit within the profession. Specific precepting strategies associated with each theme were identified. CONCLUSION: Preceptors play an important role in supporting learners in thinking and acting as professionals while also helping navigate emotional experiences that may impact PIF and having conversations to help define learner's future aspirations of the pharmacist they want to become. Strategies identified can inform curricular approaches and preceptor development that intentionally supports PIF.

The Association between Academic Performance and Entry-to-Practice Milestones within a Co-Operative Education PharmD Program.

Research on associations between student performance in pharmacy programs and entry-to-practice milestones has been limited in Canada and in programs using a co-operative (co-op) education model. Co-op exposes students to a variety of opportunities both within direct patient care roles and in non-traditional roles for pharmacists, such as policy, advocacy, insurance, research, and the pharmaceutical industry. The purpose of this research is to analyze associations between student grades and evaluations achieved in the University of Waterloo (UW) Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) co-op program and success rates on entry-to-practice milestones, including the Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada (PEBC) Pharmacist Qualifying Examination and performance on final-year clinical rotations. Grades and evaluations from courses, co-op work terms, clinical rotations, and PEBC exam data from three graduating cohorts were obtained. A multiple regression analysis was performed to explore associations between student evaluations and PEBC Pharmacist Qualifying Examination and clinical rotation performance. Holding all other variables constant, grades in anatomy/physiology were negatively correlated with scores on the PEBC Pharmacist Qualifying Examination, while grades in one of the professional practice courses showed a positive relationship with the same examination. Students with higher grades in a problem-based learning capstone therapeutics course, in their first co-op work term, and in the direct patient care co-op work term tended to score higher on clinical rotations. Co-op performance was not significant in predicting PEBC performance. However, complimentary descriptive analysis underscored that students with a co-op rating of good or below were more likely to fail courses, midpoint evaluations, Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs), and PEBC measures. Multiple predictors of performance on final-year clinical rotations and the PEBC Pharmacist Qualifying Examination were identified. This predictive model may be utilized to identify students at risk of underperforming and to facilitate early intervention and remediation programs, while also informing curricular revision.

Implementation and evaluation of a learner-driven leadership initiative for pharmacy students and pharmacy residents.

Introduction: Leadership training is a crucial component of the pharmacy education curriculum. The Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) emphasizes and encourages the use of different leadership initiatives, and universities employ tactics with varying levels of success to implement these initiatives. "Leadership theory" debates if leadership can be learned or if it is a natural-born skill. This article explores learned leadership and describes a small study deployed to different levels of pharmacy learners to foster leadership confidence and self-awareness. Educational Context and Methods: Second- and third-year didactic students in a leadership elective, voluntary fourth-year Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience (APPE) students on an ambulatory care rotation, and first postgraduate year (PGY1) pharmacy residents were included in this initiative. Each cohort facilitated a leadership book club discussion and completed professional development activities over the course of their experience. Learners' perspectives on leadership were surveyed utilizing a pre-post survey study, administered prior to beginning the initiative and after completing the initiative. Findings and Discussion: Results demonstrated learners' perceived confidence and self-awareness in their leadership skills increased from pre-survey to post-survey. Evaluation of qualitative responses exhibited that participants found value in adding more leadership development to their pharmacy training. Most participants noted leadership book discussion facilitation as the most valuable part of the initiative and posited they would utilize skills gained through these discussions nearly every day in their careers. Results suggest PGY1 pharmacy residents showed the most significant increase in their scores from pre- to post-study, while didactic students showed the least significant increase. Implications: Our findings suggest learner-driven leadership initiatives, specifically learner-facilitated book club discussions, are beneficial to incorporate into both didactic and experiential coursework. Implementation of these discussions could be applied in many aspects of the curriculum with minimal resources and a reasonable expectation of perceived benefit to student leadership development.

Retrospective assessment of an intentional interprofessional experiential education experience involving pharmacy students in a dental clinic.

BACKGROUND: Our objective was to create an intentional Interprofessional Education Experience (IEE) that satisfied the requirements set forth by the Center for the Advancement of Pharmacy Education (CAPE 2013), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) Standard 11, and the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) Competencies. These frameworks elevate the importance of interprofessional education in pharmacy. They not only guide educational standards but also emphasize the crucial role of collaborative healthcare practices in ensuring comprehensive patient care and improving health outcomes. Our evaluation of PharmD students' attainment of Interprofessional Education (IPE) learning outcomes employed both quantitative and qualitative assessment methods to provide a comprehensive understanding of their achievements. INTERPROFESSIONAL EDUCATION ACTIVITY: Fourteen PharmD students participated in an intentional IEE experience in a community dental clinic, collaborating with the dental clinic team and patients. Assessment methods combined quantitative data from SPICE-R2 with qualitative insights from daily reflections and an IPE Field Encounter based on IPEC Competencies. This approach ensured a thorough evaluation across individual experiences. DISCUSSION: Quantitative analysis revealed a statistically increase in mean scores for four out of ten questions on the SPICE-R2 instrument. Qualitative data analysis utilized grounded theory to analyze emerging themes. IMPLICATIONS: Employing both quantitative and qualitative assessment methods in this intentional IEE environment has proved beneficial in assessing IPE learning outcomes. The PharmD students were able to deliver patient-centered care as valuable members of an interprofessional healthcare team.

A Cycle of Reinforcing Challenges and Ideas for Action in Experiential Settings.

Evidence suggests that both pharmacy students and preceptors are struggling in the experiential setting. Underlying this phenomenon is a potential interconnected and cyclic set of behaviors being reinforced between students and preceptors. These behaviors can contribute to or are the result of higher levels of burnout and a decrease in the development of student clinical skills and subsequent performance on rotation. In this review, the authors investigate various challenges commonly encountered in the experiential environment. These challenges can range from an observed decrease in student engagement, motivation, and critical thinking skills to an increase in preceptor burnout and culture shifts in the clinical practice environments. These factors all ultimately impact patient care and overall student performance. For each challenge identified, strategies will be presented that can be implemented by students, preceptors, and pharmacy programs to break the cyclic pattern identified.

A Scoping Review of Student Pharmacist Participation on Interprofessional Rounds.

Interprofessional rounding is a common, yet unrequired, part of the pharmacy experiential curriculum. Little is known about the optimal interprofessional rounding structure for student pharmacists. A scoping review was performed to assess the amount and type of information available regarding student pharmacist participation on interprofessional rounding teams. A comprehensive review of five databases was completed through May 12, 2023. A total of 20 studies met the inclusion criteria. All of the assessments performed were quasi-experimental, and the majority were non-comparative studies that described the type and amount of student interventions. A review of outcomes found that all of the studies could be grouped into two overarching categories: those that assessed the benefits of interprofessional rounding to student pharmacist competencies or satisfaction and those that assessed the benefits of student pharmacists to patient care. The benefits of interprofessional rounding on student pharmacist learning and satisfaction were assessed by qualitative analysis, surveys, and student ability assessments. The benefit of student pharmacist participation in interprofessional rounds to patient care was assessed solely by a review of clinical intervention type and quantity. Thirteen of the studies described the frequency of student pharmacist participation in rounding. Of these studies, eight described daily rounding, and five described non-daily rounding. There are few studies that describe student pharmacist participation on interprofessional rounds and assess the benefits of that participation to either the patient or the student. There is a need for more high-quality studies to determine whether there is an optimal interprofessional rounding schedule.

Adjunct Preceptor Perceptions of Motivation, Understanding, and Support for the Precepting Role.

OBJECTIVE: To determine adjunct pharmacist preceptor perceptions of their precepting role related to three domains: motivation to precept, understanding the precepting role, and support for precepting. METHODS: An online cross-sectional survey of 2429 adjunct preceptors for four schools of pharmacy was conducted. Participants ranked their agreement with 81 statements regarding the three domains, including eleven subdomains. RESULTS: Mean scores for the three domains were slightly below the positive response level, with lower scores found for the subdomains of workload, precepting norms, and extrinsic benefits/rewards. Individual statements indicated increased workload due to precepting, need for more preceptor recognition and appreciation, perceptions that precepting was stressful or draining, and a preference for one concurrent learner. More frequent need for extra coaching for APPE students negatively impacted all domains, including nine subdomains. CONCLUSION: This study provides a formal evaluation of adjunct preceptor perceptions of their precepting role. Compared to previous studies, these results may indicate lower satisfaction with precepting, suggesting opportunities exist to improve the adjunct precepting experience. Actions by schools/colleges of pharmacy are necessary to ensure experiential education capacity including addressing workload concerns, increasing preceptor recognition and appreciation, and supporting preceptors when students need extra coaching.

APPE unreadiness - The other side of the coin.

INTRODUCTION: Student readiness for Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences (APPEs) has not been explicitly defined in literature or standards. Readiness for APPEs is a programmatic requirement of all schools and colleges of pharmacy (schools), leaving schools to determine their own assessments of APPE readiness. Current literature provides no consensus on the definition of APPE readiness nor the assessments or benchmarks used to evaluate APPE readiness. Schools have an opportunity to improve efforts to identify students at risk for poor APPE performance and provide early intervention. COMMENTARY: Due to a lack of consensus, it may be easier to describe students who are not ready for APPEs than it is to describe students who are APPE ready. APPE unreadiness is defined by the authors as those who require significant preceptor instruction on foundational competencies such as knowledge, skills, and/or attitudes and therefore are unable to meaningfully engage in application-based patient care activities. By adding focus to APPE unreadiness within APPE readiness programs, pharmacy schools may be able to more readily identify and remediate students who are at risk of failing one or more APPE rotations. IMPLICATIONS: We provide four recommendations for schools to consider. These are focused on assessing APPE readiness to qualify and quantify APPE unready students. By assessing APPE unreadiness, schools can make continuous quality improvement to ensure that preceptors, sites, students, and faculty can have the ongoing confidence that APPE students are all ready to meaningfully engage on rotation.

A Call to Action for Integrating Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experiences With Purpose.

Introductory pharmacy practice experiences (IPPEs) are essential to exposing students to contemporary pharmacy practice and promoting advanced pharmacy practice experience readiness. An IPPE curriculum should be sequenced and progressive, with IPPE experiences built upon each other and coordinated with the didactic curriculum. Pharmacy programs are faced with several internal and external challenges that can influence the design and implementation of their IPPE curriculum. Periodic IPPE curricular review is imperative as new challenges arise and existing challenges abate. Pharmacy programs should use a systematic and holistic process to evaluate and revise their IPPE programs. It is an opportune time to begin this process, with new standards being released in 2024. This commentary describes common challenges associated with integrating a high-quality IPPE program into a Doctor of Pharmacy curriculum along with potential solutions, with the intention for individual programs to use this as a tool to guide IPPE evaluation and revision.

Exploring the Value of Medical Affairs Learning Experiences for Pharmacy Students and Residents.

The objective of this article is 3-fold: to strengthen the understanding of medical affairs (MA) among pharmacy professionals; to provide greater visibility into the value experienced by educators, learners, and the practice of pharmacy across the health care ecosystem when MA learning opportunities are available; and to provide a framework for organizations who seek to establish an MA experiential rotation. The authors collated information from published literature, anecdotal experience, and interviews with experiential education leaders from several colleges of pharmacy. As a result, the article summarizes the current perceptions of MA practice among educators and students and highlights how MA experiences may support pharmacy learners in the future.

[Monitoring student skills during community pharmacy placements: Retrospective analysis of dashboards]. / Suivi des compétences des étudiants au cours du stage de pratique professionnelle en pharmacie officinale : analyse rétrospective des tableaux de bord.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this work is to describe the skills considered to have been acquired by students during their professional practice placements, with particular emphasis on skills related to the new roles of pharmacists. METHODS: Skills are monitored during the professional practice placement using the dashboard included in the guide designed by the college of community pharmacy placement supervisors. Each skill is assessed at three points during the placement. The assessment is carried out jointly by the student and his or her placement supervisor using the dashboard, which is available online in the form of a form on the Moodle platform. We conducted a retrospective analysis of the professional practice placement dashboards for the 2018-2019 to 2022-2023 academic years. RESULTS: The response levels for the three phases of the dashboard are very high, always exceeding 90% of students completing their placement. All of the scorecards show a progression in the acquisition of skills throughout the placement and enable certain skills to be distinguished in terms of their level of acquisition at the end of the placement. The focus on pharmaceutical interviews shows that the rate of acquisition of this skill is over 85% in 2021 and 2023, the years in which the subject of the public health project was the performance and quality assurance of pharmaceutical interviews in pharmacies, whereas it is no higher than 38% in the other years. CONCLUSIONS: Our work shows the contribution of the professional practice placement dashboard in monitoring student progress. The analysis carried out reveals different levels of mastery at the start of the placement and different levels of progress depending on the skills. It also reveals the contribution made by the intervention on the content of the placement, particularly in terms of the acquisition of certain skills, especially those related to new tasks such as conducting pharmaceutical interviews.

The impact of early direct-contact experiences on reducing mental health stigma among student pharmacists: A pilot study.

Introduction: Mental health-related stigma is a barrier to treatment and recovery for serious mental illnesses (SMIs). Educational training programs demonstrate positive changes in health professional students' attitudes and stigma toward SMI; however, student pharmacists have minimal opportunity to directly engage with the SMI population. This study aims to assess and compare student pharmacists' stigma related to SMI before and after participating in a pilot series of direct-contact workshop experiences. Methods: The 15-item Opening Minds Scale for Healthcare Providers survey was administered to student pharmacists before and after the workshop experiences to measure stigma toward SMI. Five 2-hour workshops were provided to members of a local nonprofit organization serving people with SMI by student pharmacist volunteers detailing a health and wellness topic. The postworkshop survey included free text responses to obtain student feedback. Results: Twenty-four complete preworkshop surveys were obtained, and most of them had positive attitudes and beliefs at baseline. Thirteen postworkshop surveys were obtained from student pharmacists who participated in a workshop event, and 9 were completed by student pharmacists who did not participate in a workshop event, which were used as a comparator group. Stigma decreased after participating in a workshop event, and those who participated demonstrated a lower degree of stigma versus the comparator group. Discussion: Direct-contact experiences allow student pharmacists to interact with people with SMI earlier in their training and help reduce stigma toward those with psychiatric disorders. Future research is needed to identify large-scale changes in pharmacy student stigma.