Atayee Rabia S, Lockman Kashelle, Brock Cara, Abazia Daniel T, Brooks Tracy L, Pawasauskas Jayne, Edmonds Kyle P, Herndon Christopher M
1 UC San Diego Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, La Jolla, CA, USA.
2 Department of Medicine, Palliative Care Team, UC San Diego Health, CA, USA.
Am J Hosp Palliat Care. 2018 Nov;35(11):1394-1401. doi: 10.1177/1049909118772845. Epub 2018 Apr 24.
As the role of the pharmacist on the transdisciplinary palliative care team grows, the need for adequate instruction on palliative care and clinical reasoning skills in schools of pharmacy grows accordingly.
This study evaluates second- and third-year pharmacy students from 6 accredited schools of pharmacy that participated in surveys before and after the delivery of a didactic palliative care elective. The survey collected student demographics, perceptions of the importance of and student skill level in palliative care topics. The script concordance test (SCT) was used to assess clinical decision-making skills on patient cases. Student scores on the SCT were compared to those of a reference panel of experts.
A total of 89 students completed the pre-/postsurveys and were included in data analysis. There was no statistically significant difference in student perceived importance of palliative care skills before and after the elective. Students from all 6 institutions showed significant increase in confidence in their palliative care skills at the end of the course. There was also a significant improvement across all institutions in clinical reasoning skills in most of the SCT questions used to assess these skills.
Students choosing an elective in palliative care likely do so because they already have an understanding of the importance of these topics in their future practice settings. Delivery of a palliative care elective in the pharmacy curriculum significantly increases both student confidence in their palliative care skills and their clinical reasoning skills in these areas.
随着药剂师在跨学科姑息治疗团队中的作用不断增强，药学院对姑息治疗和临床推理技能进行充分教学的需求也相应增加。
本研究评估了来自6所经认可的药学院的二年级和三年级药学专业学生，这些学生在接受姑息治疗理论选修课程前后参与了调查。该调查收集了学生的人口统计学信息、对姑息治疗主题重要性的看法以及学生在这些主题方面的技能水平。使用脚本一致性测试（SCT）来评估学生在患者病例方面的临床决策技能。将学生在SCT上的得分与专家参考小组的得分进行比较。
共有89名学生完成了课前/课后调查并纳入数据分析。选修课程前后，学生对姑息治疗技能重要性的认知没有统计学上的显著差异。所有6所院校的学生在课程结束时对其姑息治疗技能的信心都有显著提高。在用于评估临床推理技能的大多数SCT问题上，所有院校的学生在这些技能方面也有显著改善。
选择姑息治疗选修课的学生这样做可能是因为他们已经了解这些主题在其未来实践环境中的重要性。在药学课程中开设姑息治疗选修课显著提高了学生对其姑息治疗技能的信心以及他们在这些领域的临床推理技能。
