BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Since the introduction of hospital pharmacy residency programs in 1983, hospital pharmacists in South Korea have been expected to expand their roles. However, their services and the outcomes have not been fully understood. In this study, we conducted a systematic review of Korean hospital pharmacist-provided interventions with regard to intervention type, intervention consequences, and target patient groups. METHODS: A literature search of the following databases was performed: Embase, PubMed, Medline, KoreaMed, RISS, KMbase, KISS, NDSL, and KISTI. The search words were “hospital pharmacist”, “clinical pharmacist”, and “Korea”. Articles reporting clinical or economic outcome measures that resulted from hospital pharmacist interventions were considered. Numeric measures for the acceptance rate of pharmacist recommendations were subjected to meta-analysis. RESULTS: Of the 1,683 articles searched, 44 met the inclusion selection criteria. Most articles were published after 2000 (81.8%) and focused on clinical outcomes. Economic outcomes had been published since 2011. The interventions were classified as patient education, multidisciplinary team work, medication assessment, and guideline development. The outcome measures were physicians’ prescription changes, clinical outcomes, patient adherence, economic outcomes, and quality of life. The acceptance rate was 80.5% (p < 0.005). CONCLUSION: Studies on pharmacist interventions have increased and showed increased patient health benefits and reduced medical costs at Korean hospital sites. Because pharmacists' professional competency would be recognized if the economic outcomes of their work were confirmed and justified, studies on their clinical performance should also include their economic impact.
Humans ; Insurance Benefits ; Korea ; Outcome Assessment (Health Care) ; Patient Compliance ; Patient Education as Topic ; Patient Selection ; Pharmacists ; Pharmacy Residencies ; Prescriptions ; Quality of Life

BACKGROUND: Objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) are used frequently in course subjects owing to their utility in determining the students' clinical competencies under a variety of simulated conditions. In the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Pharmacy, the use of a summative OSCE has already been used as a form of assessment in some of its courses. However, previous batches of students felt unprepared for their summative OSCE at the end of the semester. In particular, students reported unfamiliarity with the content and format of the said examination. To address this concern, formative OSCEs were conducted in a Pharmacy laboratory course.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of the feedback component of formative OSCEs on the students' self-perceived learning and achievement of the course outcomes, facilitating knowledge, skills and attitudes development towards the course, and preparing them for the summative OSCE. It also sought to identify useful aspects of the formative OSCEs and how they can be improved further.

METHODOLOGY: Four formative OSCEs were administered from January to May 2017 to all fourth-year pharmacy students taking Pharmacy 154 (Dispensing and Incompatibilities). The units covered were: (1) extemporaneous and sterile compounding; (2) over-the-counter (OTC) medicines and prescription drugs; (3) dangerous drugs and medical devices; and (4) therapeutic incompatibilities and medication safety. After each formative OSCE, feedbacks were provided to the students. Once all OSCEs were conducted, an online, self-administered questionnaire consisting of four parts was given to the students. Total population sampling was employed in the study. The responses (n = 44) were analyzed using frequency statistics. Thematic analysis was done for the aspects of the formative OSCEs that were most useful, and how they could be further improved.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The frequency analysis of responses from the questionnaire generally showed that the students had positive perceptions to the feedback component of the formative OSCEs. Still, there was no significant association found between passing the summative OSCE and the formative OSCEs owing to the differences in the content of each examination. Overall, formative OSCEs may be a good assessment tool to track the students' progress and give them constructive feedback in terms of the competencies expected in the course and to better prepare them for the summative OSCE. Increasing the time allotted for each station and orienting them better prior to formative OSCEs were the commonly suggested points for improvement.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Smoking cessation campaigns aim to raise awareness on the dangers of tobacco use and provide help for successful abstinence. Fourth year students of the UP College of Pharmacy implemented activities to promote smoking cessation among patients and clients at a tertiary government hospital. This paper aimed to describe the students' experiences on their project at the hospital during their Hospital Pharmacy course. Key learnings, challenges, and recommendations for the project's improvement, as well as their perceptions on current smoking cessation programs of the government were, likewise, determined.

METHODS: The students' activities were documented and described. A descriptive quantitative design using a self-administered online questionnaire was used to determine challenges, key learnings, and recommendations while content analysis was applied on open-ended questions to determine the frequency of responses in common themes identified. Perceptions on current smoking cessation campaigns were also summarized using frequency statistics.

RESULTS: The five approved projects implemented by the students were (1) setting up of smoking cessation booths, (2) display of posters within the hospital premises, (3) distribution of leaflets and reading materials, (4) playing of smoking cessation campaign videos, and (5) the creation of a social media page. Most of the students were challenged in scheduling and delegation of tasks (81.4%) and delays in project implementation (57.6%). They also realized the difficulty of stopping smoking (74.6%) and that it has various root causes (72.9%) that need to be addressed. To improve the project, students recommended collaborations with the hospital (79.7%) and the Department of Health (84.7%) to further smoking cessation programs. Lastly, they perceived that the current smoking cessation program is inadequate or underutilized.

CONCLUSION: Smoking cessation programs require a multi-sectoral approach to be effective and sustainable, and students can be active partners in their implementation. Pharmacy student smoking cessation-led activities can complement government programs on smoking cessation. Moreover, students can apply what they have learned about smoking cessation while preparing them for their future role as pharmacist-counsellors.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate how interprofessional education has been designed, implemented, and evaluated in undergraduate programs in nursing through a systematic review. METHODS: The literature was searched using the PubMed, CINAHL, EMBASE, and Cochrane central databases to identify interventional studies including teaching-learning activities among nursing students and other disciplines in English between January 2000 and May 2017. Thirty studies were selected for the analysis. RESULTS: Twenty-four studies out of 30 were designed as a pre-post, no control group, quasi-experimental study design. Interprofessional education learners were primarily engaged in medicine, physical therapy, dentistry, occupational therapy, pharmacy, and respiratory therapy. Patient care related activity was the most frequently selected topic and simulation was the most common teaching-learning method. Evaluation of learning outcomes was mainly based on the aspects of teams and collaboration, professional identity, roles and responsibilities, patient care, and communication skills. Nursing students in 26 out of the 30 reviewed studies were found to benefit from interprofessional education, with outcome effects primarily related to changes in learning outcomes. CONCLUSION: The development and integration of interprofessional education with collaborative practices may offer opportunities in nursing education for training professional nurses of the future.
Cooperative Behavior ; Education* ; Education, Nursing ; Humans ; Interprofessional Relations ; Learning ; Methods ; Non-Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic ; Nursing* ; Occupational Dentistry ; Patient Care ; Pharmacy ; Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine ; Respiratory Therapy ; Students, Nursing*

OBJECTIVE: As the demands of healthcare environment change, it is necessary to advance human health care by improving students' essential competencies including knowledge, skills, abilities, inter-professional collaboration and patient centered care. This study identified long term accomplishment and improvement of the essential competencies in clinical pharmacy practice education (CPPE) at Korean hospitals over time. METHODS: This study was conducted for pharmacy students who completed CPPE evaluation related to tertiary hospitals and secondary hospitals located in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do regional area from 2014 to 2018. RESULTS: Over the past 5 years, overall results of student evaluation on the essential competencies in CPPE at both tertiary and secondary hospitals showed a decreasing trend or did not change. Essential competency in CPPE at tertiary hospitals had been identified as superior on ‘Learn clinical knowledge in the treatment of diseases’ to secondary hospitals [average number of students (%): 210 (72.9%) vs 68 (68.0%)]. On the other hand, essential competencies in CPPE at secondary hospitals had been identified as better at ‘inter-professionals collaborative teamwork and direct patient care’ than tertiary hospitals [average number of students (%): 64 (64.0%) and 56 (56.0%) vs 121 (42.0%) and 90 (31.3%)]. A total of 176 (61.1%) students in tertiary hospitals and 66 (66.0%) in secondary hospitals evaluated that ‘patient-centered care’ education was good. CONCLUSION: In tertiary hospitals, all six essential competency outcomes have not been improved, whereas four essential competency outcomes showed an increasing trend in secondary hospitals. It will be necessary to develop outcome-based CPPE education program to better reflect the essential competencies.
Cooperative Behavior ; Delivery of Health Care ; Education ; Gyeonggi-do* ; Hand ; Humans ; Patient-Centered Care ; Pharmacy* ; Seoul* ; Students, Pharmacy ; Tertiary Care Centers

OBJECTIVE: This study was to investigate and develop a training program that integrated and strengthened clinical competence and capacity of hospital pharmacists which would be implemented at the pharmacy department of Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital. METHODS: We assessed the training programs of hospital pharmacists in the United Kingdom, the United States and Japan and compared those of major hospitals in Seoul and Gyeonggi provinces in Korea. The survey assessed the satisfaction on the current educational programs for pharmacists at Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital and a newly designed education program was suggested. RESULTS: The major differences of the programs among the Korean hospitals and Mokdong Hospital were the training period and contents of the entry-level pharmacist education program. The overall satisfaction of the training program was >3 points on 5-Likert scale in the survey. There was no significant difference of the satisfaction level based on the employment period of pharmacists. The pharmacists were in more than 7 training programs of clinical support work. We proposed the clinical support training for the new pharmacists to be separated from orientation and concentrated on actual work duty. In order to improve the competency, it was encouraged to participate the in-house seminar or certify the related fields provided by Korean Society of Health-system Pharmacists. CONCLUSION: The education program was assessed among different countries and hospitals of Korea. We suggested to update education program in the hospital to enhance pharmacists' competency.
Clinical Competence ; Education* ; Employment ; Female ; Great Britain ; Gyeonggi-do ; Humans ; Japan ; Korea ; Mental Competency ; Pharmacists* ; Pharmacy ; Seoul ; United States

BACKGROUND: Pharmacy curriculum change was made from a 4-year program to a 2+4 year program in year 2009 in Korea. The change has resulted in more educational exposures on patient-centered practice environments for about 1,400 hours in the last year of the professional pharmacy program. When the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak hit Seoul and suburban areas and propagated to other provinces in Korea, emergency response to avoid student infection in the pharmacy practice sites became an urgent issue. While other health professional programs such as medicine and nursing had activated emergency preparedness manuals, timely and clear guidelines were not disseminated to all pharmacy programs and protective measures largely relied on individual pharmacy program. METHODS: A survey was developed by the Committee on Pharmacy Practice Experience Programs in the Korean College of Clinical Pharmacy to document the status of pharmacy programs during the Korea MERS outbreak in 2015. The 10-question survey was distributed to the pharmacy practice experience coordinators to 34 out of 35 pharmacy schools in Korea by emails. RESULTS: Our findings showed that 82.4% of the program coordinators (28/34) responded to the survey, 96.4% of the programs did not have emergency preparedness manuals, administrative meetings were held in 89.3% of the pharmacy programs, the rotation schedules were modified or withheld in 53.6% of schools, and the changes were mostly observed from the programs classified as MERS outbreak regions. CONCLUSION: Further needs in establishing the emergency preparedness manual should be explored for pharmacy education stakeholders.
Appointments and Schedules ; Civil Defense ; Coronavirus Infections* ; Curriculum ; Education* ; Education, Pharmacy ; Electronic Mail ; Emergencies ; Health Occupations ; Humans ; Korea ; Middle East* ; Nursing ; Pharmacy* ; Schools, Pharmacy ; Seoul

Community pharmacies in Nepal and other South Asian countries are in a mediocre state due to poor regulation and the fact that many pharmacies are run by people with insufficient training in dispensing. This has led to the inappropriate use of medicines. The problems due to poor regulation and the mediocre state of community pharmacies in South Asia encompass both academia and clinical practice. In this paper, a 2-week community pharmacy internship programme completed by 2 graduating pharmacy students of Pokhara University (a Nepalese public university) at Sankalpa Pharmacy, Pokhara, Nepal is illustrated. During the internship, they were systematically trained on store management, pharmaceutical care, counselling skills, the use of medical devices, pharmaceutical business plans, medicine information sources, and adverse drug reaction reporting. An orientation, observations and hands-on training, case presentation, discussion, and feedback from 2 senior pharmacists were used as the training method. A proper community pharmacy internship format, good pharmacy practice standards, and a better work environment for pharmacists may improve the quality of community pharmacies.
Asia ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Commerce ; Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions ; Education, Pharmacy ; Humans ; Internship and Residency* ; Methods ; Nepal* ; Pharmaceutical Services ; Pharmacies* ; Pharmacists ; Pharmacy* ; Students, Pharmacy*

PURPOSE: To establish a model of Japanese pharmacy students' learning motivation profile and investigate the effects of pharmaceutical practical training programs on their learning motivation. METHODS: The Science Motivation Questionnaire II was administered to pharmacy students in their 4th (before practical training), 5th (before practical training at clinical sites), and 6th (after all practical training) years of study at Josai International University in April, 2016. Factor analysis and multiple-group structural equation modeling were conducted for data analysis. RESULTS: A total of 165 students participated. The learning motivation profile was modeled with 4 factors (intrinsic, career, self-determination, and grade motivation), and the most effective learning motivation was grade motivation. In the multiple-group analysis, the fit of the model with the data was acceptable, and the estimated mean value of the factor of ‘self-determination’ in the learning motivation profile increased after the practical training programs (P=0.048, Cohen's d=0.43). CONCLUSION: Practical training programs in a 6-year course were effective for increasing learning motivation, based on ‘self-determination’ among Japanese pharmacy students. The results suggest that practical training programs are meaningful not only for providing clinical experience but also for raising learning motivation.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group* ; Education ; Humans ; Learning* ; Motivation* ; Pharmacy* ; Statistics as Topic ; Students, Pharmacy*

Experiential education is a core curriculum of pharmacy education. In experiential education, formative feedback is an integral component of learning and teaching process. Feedback is defined as information provided by a preceptor regarding student's performance based on direct observation. With effective feedback, students can have opportunities to reinforce or correct behaviors and to acquire knowledge or skills. Students highly value and appreciate feedback. They rank provision of effective feedback as one of the most important qualities of preceptors. Preceptors, however, lack an understanding of feedback or practical skills necessary for providing effective feedback. As a result in reality, the feedback provided to students can be differentially effective in improving students' learning. This article describes a theoretical understanding of feedback including definition and value, as well as types of feedback. In addition, practical aspects in providing feedback, such as contents, timing, techniques, and models, are addressed. By understanding the value of feedback and mastering various feedback skills, preceptors will promote students' learning and enhance educational outcomes of experiential education.
Curriculum ; Education* ; Education, Pharmacy ; Formative Feedback ; Humans ; Learning ; Pharmacy* ; Students, Pharmacy