A Simulated Approach to Fostering Competency in End-of-Life Care Among Pharmacy Students.

Objective. To determine if pharmacy students participating in simulation-based scenarios reported fewer learning needs about the transition from acute to end-of-life (EOL) care compared to students participating in solely case-based scenario delivery. Methods. Four end-of-life cases were developed for both paper-based case study and simulation delivery. Pharmacy students on three distant campuses were exposed to the case study approach while four teams of nine to ten pharmacy students were exposed to simulated versions of the same cases. A validated questionnaire was administered before and after exposure to assess end-of-life care learning needs. Results were analyzed following a Bonferroni-adjustment for multiple testing. Results. The case study groups produced similar pre/post changes on the questionnaire. After results were pooled and compared to the simulation only group, significantly higher changes in pre/post scores were found for the simulation group. Conclusion. Pharmacy students exposed to simulated EOL scenarios experienced significantly reduced learning needs following the scenarios, unlike their classroom-based counterparts.

Teaching End-of-Life Care Using Interprofessional Simulation.

BACKGROUND: Competency in end-of-life (EOL) care is a growing expectation for health professions students. This study assessed the impact of four EOL care scenarios, using high-fidelity simulation, on the perceived learning needs and attitudes of pharmacy and nursing students. METHOD: On three campuses, pharmacy students (N = 158) were exposed to standard paper EOL case scenarios, while a fourth campus exposed eight graduate nursing and 37 graduate pharmacy students to simulated versions of the same cases. RESULTS: The paper-based groups produced similar pre-post changes on the End of Life Professional Caregiver Survey. Results were pooled and compared with the simulation-only group, revealing significantly higher changes in pre-post scores for the simulation group. CONCLUSION: Students participating in the simulation group showed some significant differences in attitudes toward EOL care, compared with students in the classroom setting. [J Nurs Educ. 2017;56(4):205-210.].