Date of Award
5-2019
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science
First Advisor
Dr. Willie Capers I
Abstract
With the continual existence and burden of medication errors and the expansion of the pharmacist's role (n patient counseling as a means to combat this issue, there is still much to evaluate and resolve in regards to this matter. Regardless of the reason that these errors still occur, be it contributed to blatant neglect of duty or perhaps an educational gap, this problem is critical to resolve as the consequences often lead to financial, personal, and potentially fatal outcomes that can rarely receive full rectification. This study evaluated a first year pharmacy class after their completion of a pharmacy practice course focusing on patient counseling. The results were then analyzed to discover any areas or gaps that can be addressed and improved which ultimately, once mended, could yield more competent future pharmacists and pharmacist interns in the practice of patient counseling, thus reducing the occurrence of medication errors.
This study utilized a self-assessed confidence survey following the student's completion of their pharmacy practice course. The confidence survey was comprised of four categories in patient counseling with each category consisting of various skills pertaining to that specific category: Introductions, Assessing Patient Knowledge, Use of Visual Aids and Demonstrations, Key Counseling Information. A demographics section was also included in the confidence survey. Each skill of the confidence survey was graded on a Likert Scale of 5 where a grade of 1 represented no confidence and 5 represented complete confidence.
The results of the confidence survey revealed that 50% or more of the participants expressed "very confident" or "compete confidence" in all skills for each category of patient counseling, although some skills yielded results slightly less than 50% of participants on aforementioned confidence levels: very confident or complete confidence.
The pharmacy practice lab course (PHAR-411) and its teaching methods utilized was effective overall in producing first-year pharmacy students with strong confidence levels in the realms of patient counseling.
Recommended Citation
Shirdon, Lorin James II, "Translational Strategies For Improving Medication Counseling In Community Pharmacy Practice" (2019). Honor’s College Freeman Research Journal. 3.
https://digitalscholarship.tsu.edu/frj/3