Student perceptions of an experiential education clinic within a pharmacy school.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Pharmacy schools would benefit from new models of experiential education. The University of Saskatchewan (Canada) recently opened a patient care clinic called the Medication Assessment Centre (MAC) as new experiential education model. The purpose of this paper is to describe the structure and function of the MAC and to report program evaluation data. EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY AND SETTING: The MAC is a unique application of an existing experiential education model in that it is an pharmacist-run ambulatory clinic (which is common) that is physically located on campus amongst the classrooms and supervised by pharmacy faculty (which is unique). Students are all required to participate in the clinic on a regular basis, in between lectures, throughout the four years of the pharmacy program. FINDINGS: Students were invited to participate in one of five focus groups to assess the value of the experience. Transcripts were analyzed using thematic analysis, and the results identified strong satisfaction amongst students. The overall themes fell into three categories: (1) aspects that students liked, (2) aspects that students found challenging, and (3) positive impact on student learning. Previously published studies have found strong support for the MAC amongst patients and physicians. SUMMARY: Students felt that a faculty supervised experiential education clinic that is physically located within their pharmacy school was a valuable learning experience. This paper provides a description of how the MAC has been integrated into an existing pharmacy curriculum, which may be valuable to schools contemplating a similar addition to existing experiential learning.

Family physician perceptions of a medication assessment clinic located within a pharmacy school.

OBJECTIVE: To determine if the clinical services provided at a patient care clinic run by pharmacy faculty and students are valuable to family physicians. DESIGN: Paper-based postal survey. SETTING: The Medication Assessment Centre located within the College of Pharmacy and Nutrition at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon. PARTICIPANTS: Family physicians who had more than 1 patient who underwent a complete assessment at the Medication Assessment Centre between April 1 and October 26, 2015, were included in the study. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Family physician experience and satisfaction based on quantitative analysis of 6 Likert scale survey questions and thematic analysis of 2 open-ended survey questions. RESULTS: A total of 81 questionnaires were mailed to family physicians, with a response rate of 43.2% (n = 35). Respondents reported a very high level of support and satisfaction with the clinical pharmacist program; most (88.6%) stated that it helped them to improve the health of their patients. CONCLUSION: The family physicians who responded to the questionnaire perceived the services provided at the patient care clinic located within the pharmacy school at the University of Saskatchewan to be valuable to their practices.

A mixed methods evaluation of a patient care clinic located within a pharmacy school.

Background The Medication Assessment Center is a faculty and student run patient care clinic located within the pharmacy school at the University of Saskatchewan (Canada). It was created as a novel experiential education site for pharmacy students and to provide clinical pharmacist services for complex patients who have trouble accessing services elsewhere. Objective To determine if the clinical services provided by faculty and students at the Medication Assessment Center are valuable to patients who are referred to the program. Setting The Medication Assessment Center, which is faculty and student run patient care clinic. Method Convergent mixed methods design comprised of a retrospective patient chart audit and a paper based patient experience survey. All patients who attended at least one appointment at the Medication Assessment Center between March 1, 2014 and July 31, 2015 were included in the chart audit. All new patients who were referred between April 1, 2015 and October 26, 2015 were included in the survey. Main outcome measures Recommendations made by the pharmacist and patient experience survey indicators. Results 173 patients were included in the chart audit, which found that patients were elderly (64.8 years), highly medically complex (13.8 medications and 6.5 diagnoses each), and had a large number of recommendations made by the pharmacist to adjust drug therapy (6.2 per patient). 121 questionnaires were mailed to patients with a response rate of 66.9 % (n = 81). The survey found high levels of support and satisfaction for the program, including more than half of patients (59.2 %) who reported that their health had improved as a result of the Medication Assessment Center. Conclusion The patient care and experiential education program offered by the Medication Assessment Center provides a valuable service to patients who are referred to the clinic.