Associations between Achievement Goal Orientations and Academic Performance Among Students at a UK Pharmacy School

Objective. To ascertain goal orientations of pharmacy students and establish whether associations exist between academic performance, gender, or year of study. Methods. Goal orientations were assessed using a validated questionnaire. Respondents were categorized as high or low performers based on university grades. Associations and statistical significance were ascertained using parametric and nonparametric tests and linear regression, as appropriate. Results. A response rate of 60.7% was obtained. High performers were more likely to be female than male. The highest mean score was for mastery approach; the lowest for work avoidance. The mean score for work avoidance was significantly greater for low performers than for high performers and for males than for females. First-year students were most likely to have top scores in mastery and performance approaches. Conclusion. It is encouraging that the highest mean score was for mastery approach orientation, as goal orientation may play a role in academic performance of pharmacy students.

Views of pharmacy graduates and pharmacist tutors on evidence-based practice in relation to over-the-counter consultations: a qualitative study

RATIONALE, AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: Health care services offered to the public should be based on the best available evidence. We aimed to explore pharmacy tutors' and trainees' views on the importance of evidence when making decisions about over-the-counter (OTC) medicines and also to investigate whether the tutor influenced the trainee in practice.

METHODS: Following ethical approval and piloting, semi-structured interviews were conducted with pharmacy graduates (trainees) and pharmacist tutors. Transcribed interview data were entered into the NVivo software package (version 10), coded and analysed via thematic analysis.

RESULTS: Twelve trainees (five males, seven females) and 11 tutors (five males, six females) participated. Main themes that emerged were (in)consistency and contradiction, confidence, acculturation, and continuation and perpetuation. Despite having an awareness of the importance and potential benefits, an evidence-based approach did not seem to be routinely or consistently implemented in practice. Confidence in products was largely derived from personal use and patient feedback. A lack of discussion about evidence was justified on the basis of not wanting to lessen patient confidence in requested product(s) or possibly negating the placebo effect. Trainees became acculturated to 'real-life' practice; university teaching and evidence was deemed less relevant than meeting customer expectations. The tutor's actions were mirrored by their trainee resulting in continuation and perpetuation of the same professional attitudes and behaviours.

CONCLUSIONS: Evidence appeared to have limited influence on OTC decision making. The tutor played a key role in the trainee's professional development. More work could be performed to investigate how evidence can be regarded as relevant and something that is consistently implemented in practice.

Developing Entrepreneurial Skills in Pharmacy Students

Objective. To create, implement, and evaluate a workshop that teaches undergraduate pharmacy
students about entrepreneurship.
Design. Workshops with 3 hours contact time and 2 hours self-study time were developed for final-year
students. Faculty members and students evaluated peer assessment, peer development,
communication, critical evaluation, creative thinking, problem solving, and numeracy skills, as well
as topic understanding. Student evaluation of the workshops was done largely via a self-administered,
9-question questionnaire.
Assessment. One hundred thirty-four students completed the workshops. The mean score was 50.9
out of 65. Scores ranged from 45.9 to 54.1. The questionnaire had a response rate of 100%. Many
students agreed that workshops about entrepreneurship were a useful teaching method. Additionally,
they agreed that key skills were fostered.
Conclusion. Workshops effectively delivered course content about entrepreneurship and helped
develop relevant skills. This work suggests students value a program that includes instruction on
entrepreneurship.

Alcohol, Tobacco and Pharmacy Students: Usage and Views on Professional Issues

Introduction/background: This study aimed to ascertain pharmacy students’ use and views on cigarettes and alcohol (including in relation to provision of health promotion advice) and to establish if alcohol intake affected academic performance. Within the United Kingdom (UK), there has been limited research conducted in this area
Methods: Following ethical approval, pharmacy students (n=581) were invited to participate in a pre-piloted electronic questionnaire, consisting of 21 questions on smoking and alcohol. Descriptive statistics and non-parametric tests were used for data analyses.
Results: A response rate of 64.5% (375/581) was obtained (69.9% female, 30.2% male). Many respondents (77.9%) reported that they drank alcohol; whereas only 3.7% stated they currently smoked cigarettes. Students who drank alcohol were more likely to fail elements of the program than those who did not. Less than half (47.8%) were in agreement that it was hypocritical for a pharmacist to give health promotion advice and then get drunk outside of work.
Discussion/conclusions: Students seem to consider that lifestyle recommendations are less relevant for themselves and also that a pharmacist’s responsibility centers on providing advice, rather than being a role-model. Alcohol consumption appears to negatively influence academic achievement.

A Qualitative Exploration of Perceived Key Knowledge and Skills in End-of-Life Care in Dementia Patients among Medical, Nursing, and Pharmacy Students

Background: The steady increase in the number of people living and dying with dementia, coupled with the recent focus on quality of care, has highlighted the importance of dementia training for health care professionals. This exploratory study aimed to discover which skills health care students felt were important in providing quality end-of-life care to dementia patients.

Methods: Ninety-four medicine, nursing, and pharmacy students participated in a larger study using open-ended and closed questions to explore attitudes related to caring for dementia patients at the end of life. This study looks at the student responses to an open-ended question regarding the skills and knowledge they believe are needed to provide end-of-life care to dementia patients. Individual responses were reviewed by the researchers, coded into key issues, and tabulated for frequency of occurrences and group differences.

Results: Several common issues emerged: knowledge, patience, empathy, understanding, family involvement, compassion, medication knowledge, respect/patient autonomy, communication, quality of life, and patient education. Significant differences were observed among the participant groups on the following issues: Patience and understanding (pharmacy students mentioned these issues less frequently than medical and nursing students), compassion (medical students mentioned this issue more frequently than pharmacy students), and medication knowledge (pharmacy students mentioned this issue more frequently than medical and nursing students).

Conclusions: Different health care disciplines (in-training) value different skill sets for the provision of dementia care at the end-of-life. As health care education for dementia patients at the end of life is expanded, it will be important to understand which skills both patients and health care students value.

Development of a pharmacy practice intervention: lessons from the literature

The development of health interventions is receiving increasing attention within the scientific literature. In the past, interventions were often based on the ISLAGIATT principle: that is, ‘It seemed like a good idea at the time’. However, such interventions were frequently ineffective because they were either delivered in part or not at all, demonstrating a lack of fidelity, or because little attention had been paid to their development, content, and mode of delivery. This commentary seeks to highlight the latest methodological advances in the field of intervention development, drawing on health psychology literature, together with guidance from key organisations and research consortia which are setting standards for development and reporting. Those working within pharmacy practice research can learn from the more systematic approach being advocated, and apply these methods to help generate evidence to support new services and professional roles.

Enhanced clinical pharmacy service targeting tools: risk-predictive algorithms

Rationale, aims and objectives: This study aimed to determine the value of using a mix of clinical pharmacy data and routine hospital admission spell data in the development of predictive algorithms. Exploration of risk factors in hospitalized patients, together with the targeting strategies devised, will enable the prioritization of clinical pharmacy services to optimize patient outcomes. 

Methods: Predictive algorithms were developed using a number of detailed steps using a 75% sample of integrated medicines management (IMM) patients, and validated using the remaining 25%. IMM patients receive targeted clinical pharmacy input throughout their hospital stay. The algorithms were applied to the validation sample, and predicted risk probability was generated for each patient from the coefficients. Risk threshold for the algorithms were determined by identifying the cut-off points of risk scores at which the algorithm would have the highest discriminative performance. Clinical pharmacy staffing levels were obtained from the pharmacy department staffing database. 

Results: Numbers of previous emergency admissions and admission medicines together with age-adjusted co-morbidity and diuretic receipt formed a 12-month post-discharge and/or readmission risk algorithm. Age-adjusted co-morbidity proved to be the best index to predict mortality. Increased numbers of clinical pharmacy staff at ward level was correlated with a reduction in risk-adjusted mortality index (RAMI). 

Conclusions: Algorithms created were valid in predicting risk of in-hospital and post-discharge mortality and risk of hospital readmission 3, 6 and 12 months post-discharge. The provision of ward-based clinical pharmacy services is a key component to reducing RAMI and enabling the full benefits of pharmacy input to patient care to be realized.