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Impact of remote delivery on a pharmacists' patient care process capstone course on the development of patient work‐up skills
Author(s) -
Phillips Beth B.,
Palmer Russ,
Chastain Daniel B.,
Smith Katie,
Bland Christopher M.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of the american college of clinical pharmacy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2574-9870
DOI - 10.1002/jac5.1376
Subject(s) - pharmacy , objective structured clinical examination , capstone , medical education , capstone course , final examination , coursework , covid-19 , medicine , psychology , computer science , nursing , disease , algorithm , infectious disease (medical specialty)
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic caused colleges of pharmacy to abruptly change teaching strategies mid‐semester in Spring 2020 due to campus closure and transition to remote learning. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of pandemic‐induced remote learning on student skill acquisition in a third year pharmacy student (P3) Pharmacists' Patient Care Process (PPCP) capstone course. Methods Student performance on weekly quizzes and mid‐term and final practical examinations were evaluated before and after implementation of remote learning in 2020 and were compared with a previous class in 2019. Paired and anonymous student perceptions of their skill development were also compared within the same semester and between years. Independent sample and paired Student's t tests were used to compare means, the Pearson correlation was used to identify associations between continuous variables, and nonparametric tests were used to compare ordinal data. Results In 2020, student performance was significantly higher on quizzes at the end of the semester after implementation of remote learning compared with pre‐remote learning (8.2 ± 1.6 vs 7.7 ± 1.8 points, P < .05). Students performed significantly worse on the final examination compared with the mid‐term examination (21.2 ± 5.4 vs 23.4 ± 5.3 points, P < .05) in 2020. Students also performed significantly worse on the final examination in 2020 compared with 2019 (21.3 ± 5.4 vs 23.1 ± 5.4, P < .01). In both 2019 and 2020, students rated their ability to meet course objectives higher at the end of the semester compared with the beginning of the semester ( P < .05). Conclusion The COVID‐19 pandemic‐related changes in course delivery, participation, and assessment had a mixed effect on development of a systematic process for patient work‐up skills using the PPCP. Students progressed throughout the semester on early PPCP patient work‐up skills, but performance decreased when higher level skills or later PPCP steps were assessed and was lower compared with a previous offering of the course.