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).