Brian A. Hemstreet, Pharm.D.
Associate Professor
Director, Pharmaceutical Care Learning Center
Clinical Pharmacy
University of Colorado Denver
Mail Stop C-238-L-15, Academic Office 1
12631 East 17th Avenue, Room L-15 1417
Aurora CO, 80045
303-724-2651
Brian.Hemstreet@ucdenver.edu
Abstract
The main issue to be explored is characterization of telephone-based interactions that pharmacy students have with both patient and healthcare providers during their experiential community pharmacy Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences in the fourth and final year of the Doctor of Pharmacy program. This is based on the fact that up to 66% of University of Colorado Pharmacy school graduates plan to enter community pharmacy practice following graduation. A large percentage of pharmacist interactions and clinical interventions in the community pharmacy practice setting that involve both patients and healthcare providers take place over the telephone. Based on this observation, the School of Pharmacy has implemented simulated patient and healthcare provider telephone-based assessments in the first, second, and third year of the Doctor of Pharmacy program. Students are assessed on the accuracy, timeliness, organization, and conciseness of telephone-based responses to patient specific drug information questions, as well as verbal communication, use of appropriate medical terminology and grammar, and professional behavior. It is unknown whether or not these assessments are truly reflective of what students are encountering during their final year of experiential training, and subsequently in community pharmacy practice. Characterizing what students are experiencing in the practice setting can be used to refine the telephone based-assessment process to correlate more closely with clinical practice, as well as provide validation of the case content utilized. Twenty-six students currently on experiential community pharmacy rotations in the spring 2009 semester will be surveyed for two non-consecutive weeks during one of their 6 week rotations to characterize the telephone based interactions that occur. Data to be collected via survey include types and number of questions asked, time involved in each interaction, resources used to answer the questions, and with whom the interactions occurred.