Abstract Manager

Facilitated and Dedicated Poster

P1 - 03

Accept

I declare I have no actual or potential conflict of interest in relation to this program.

yes

General Call (Workshop, Oral Presentation, Poster Presentation)

Oral

Education Research

Other

Senior Lecturer

yes

Pharmacy students use guided reflection and entrustment (EPA) assessments to appraise 'secret' patient/pharmacist encounters in the selfcare community workplace

Pharmacists are entrusted to help patients minimize risks and maximize benefits when self-selecting treatment for minor ailments. Patients often initially access the Internet for advice. Undergraduates must understand and assimilate both patient and pharmacist perspectives on their path to self-regulated practice.

Second year (pre-clinical) students (n= 240) posed as patients seeking a pharmacist's advice in a community pharmacy, after having reviewed Internet sources. Using structured guided reflection, they analyzed relevant aspects of the encounter, completed an EPA assessment of the observed pharmacist and proposed measures to personally optimize implementation of this responsibility when in practice. Perceptions were analyzed from observations, reports, surveys, class discussions and interviews. EPA rankings (anchored to 5 levels of supervision) were tabulated.

Student reflections, as patients, highlighted themes of entrustment and confidence in the pharmacist as an authoritative resource. As prospective pharmacists, they evaluated the clinician in terms of best practice guidelines, competencies demonstrated, barriers observed during the consultation and feelings about their future professional role. EPA reports rated the majority of pharmacists able to practice independently/unsupervised and 20% as role-models/able to supervise others. Time constraints for communication, rather than content expertise, was the primary obstacle.

Students valued this contextual opportunity to directly experience competencies required for patient care prior to their clinical year: subject expertise, communication, collaboration, professionalism, advocacy and scholarship. Assessing practitioners' level of entrustment was considered transformative in reinforcing the importance of expertly performing this professional role with appropriate time management once in practice.

Entrustment (EPA)

guided reflection

assessment

Undergraduate

Assessment

Undergraduate

Professionalism

Assessment

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes