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. 2017 Dec 12;17(1):251.
doi: 10.1186/s12909-017-1092-z.

Advances in clinical pharmacy education in Germany: a quasi-experimental single-blinded study to evaluate a patient-centred clinical pharmacy course in psychiatry

Monika Dircks  1 , Andreas Mayr  2 , Annette Freidank  3 , Johannes Kornhuber  4 , Frank Dörje  5 , Kristina Friedland  6
Affiliations

Advances in clinical pharmacy education in Germany: a quasi-experimental single-blinded study to evaluate a patient-centred clinical pharmacy course in psychiatry

Monika Dircks et al. BMC Med Educ. .

Abstract

Background: The pharmacy profession has shifted towards patient-centred care. To meet the new challenges it is necessary to provide students with clinical competencies. A quasi-experimental single-blinded teaching and learning study was carried out using a parallel-group design to evaluate systematically the benefits of clinical teaching in pharmacy education in Germany.

Methods: A clinical pharmacy course on a psychiatric ward was developed and implemented for small student groups. The learning aims included: the improvement of patient and interdisciplinary communication skills and the identification and management of pharmaceutical care issues. The control group participated only in the preparation lecture, while the intervention group took part in the complete course. The effects were assessed by an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) and a student satisfaction survey.

Results: The intervention group achieved significantly better overall results on the OSCE assessment (46.20 ± 10.01 vs. 26.58 ± 12.91 of a maximum of 90 points; p < 0.0001).The practical tasks had the greatest effect, as reflected in the outcomes of tasks 1-5 (34.94 ± 9.60 vs. 18.63 ± 10.24 of a maximum of 60 points; p < 0.0001). Students' performance on the theoretical tasks (tasks 6-10) was improved but unsatisfying in both groups considering the maximum score (11.50 ± 4.75 vs. 7.50 ± 4.00 of a maximum of 30 points; p < 0.0001). Of the students, 93% rated the course as practice-orientated, and 90% felt better prepared for patient contact. Many students suggested a permanent implementation and an extension of the course.

Conclusions: The results suggest that the developed ward-based course provided learning benefits for clinical skills. Students' perception of the course was positive. Implementation into the regular clinical pharmacy curriculum is therefore advisable.

Keywords: Clinical pharmacy course; Pharmacy education; Teaching and learning study.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The ethics committee of Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg ruled that no formal ethics approval was required in this study. Participation was voluntary, and verbal informed consent was obtained. Participants were assured that there would be no victimization of anyone who refused to participate or who decided to withdraw from the study after providing consent. Pharmacy students are required by German law to obey data confidentiality. They were informed about this and were required to sign a confirmation. During the examination, the students were given numbers that could not be traced to their personal identification to ensure confidentiality and privacy.

Consent for publication

Not applicable

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Study design
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Boxplot representing the empirical distribution of achieved total scores from both groups
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Boxplot representing the empirical distribution of achieved scores in individual tasks
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Student satisfaction survey. 76 (=100%) out of 84 surveys were returned
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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