ABSTRACT
Introduction: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused colleges of pharmacy to abruptly change teaching strategies mid-semester in Spring 2020 due to campus closure and transition to remote learning. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of pandemic-induced remote learning on student skill acquisition in a third year pharmacy student (P3) Pharmacists' Patient Care Process (PPCP) capstone course. Methods: Student performance on weekly quizzes and mid-term and final practical examinations were evaluated before and after implementation of remote learning in 2020 and were compared with a previous class in 2019. Paired and anonymous student perceptions of their skill development were also compared within the same semester and between years. Independent sample and paired Student's t tests were used to compare means, the Pearson correlation was used to identify associations between continuous variables, and nonparametric tests were used to compare ordinal data. Results: In 2020, student performance was significantly higher on quizzes at the end of the semester after implementation of remote learning compared with pre-remote learning (8.2 ± 1.6 vs 7.7 ± 1.8 points, P <.05). Students performed significantly worse on the final examination compared with the mid-term examination (21.2 ± 5.4 vs 23.4 ± 5.3 points, P <.05) in 2020. Students also performed significantly worse on the final examination in 2020 compared with 2019 (21.3 ± 5.4 vs 23.1 ± 5.4, P <.01). In both 2019 and 2020, students rated their ability to meet course objectives higher at the end of the semester compared with the beginning of the semester (P <.05). Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic-related changes in course delivery, participation, and assessment had a mixed effect on development of a systematic process for patient work-up skills using the PPCP. Students progressed throughout the semester on early PPCP patient work-up skills, but performance decreased when higher level skills or later PPCP steps were assessed and was lower compared with a previous offering of the course.