Methods
Wingate University School of Pharmacy (WUSOP) consists of a main campus
in Wingate, NC, and a satellite campus in Hendersonville, NC. For APPE
rotations, students are assigned to one of five regions within the
state. The school has partnerships within two of these regions, with
Atrium Health’s Carolinas Medical Center (CMC) in Charlotte and Wake
Forest Baptist Health (WFBH) in Winston-Salem, to precept selected APPE
students in a concentrated learning experience. All students from the
2017 WUSOP graduating class who participated in a concentrated learning
experience at an affiliated academic medical center (CMC or WFBH) were
eligible for inclusion. This was a single-institution, investigational
review board-approved, survey-based research study. The primary
objective was to assess change in self-perceived skill set development
over the APPE year. Secondary endpoints included perceived satisfaction
with program opportunities (e.g. teaching, research, post-graduate
training preparation).
The survey instrument was developed by the authors using QualtricsXM
(Qualtrics, Provo, UT) and was distributed electronically via university
email addresses to students during their final experiential trimester.
Prior to survey deployment, content validity was assessed by clinical
preceptors and faculty colleagues who reviewed, edited, and tested the
survey instrument. Participation in the survey was voluntary and
subjects were informed of that fact. All survey results were anonymous.
Student-perceived changes in clinical and professional development
skills from start to completion of APPEs centered on seven areas:
critical thinking skills, drug information evaluation, medical team
engagement, presentation skills, time management, verbal communication,
and written communication. Students were asked to reflect on their skill
level at the start of their APPE year compared to the end of their APPE
year. Using whole numbers from 1 to 10 (1=weak, 10=strong), they
assigned a number to each skill at both points in time. Additional
analyses included an assessment of any differences in skill set
development between the two concentrated learning experiences and
overall student satisfaction with program experiences. Stated program
benefits included availability of elective rotations, education with
pharmacy residents, longitudinal research opportunities, project
opportunities, teaching opportunities, exposure to hospital pharmacy
practice, career development, and preparation for post-graduate
practice. Information was collected to analyze aggregate student
responses. Students were asked to rate perceptions using a five-point
Likert scale.
Descriptive and inferential statistics were used. A p-value less than or
equal to 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Changes in
student perceptions were analyzed with a Mann-Whitney U. Differences
between programs were assessed using a repeated measures ANOVA. All
statistical tests were performed using SPSS software, version 25 (IBM,
Armonk, NY).