Projects
In addition to the everyday activities, discuss projects that the student will be involved with during this rotation. Generally, students are expected to write SOAP notes based on the patients that they follow. A formal presentation is a good method to assess students’ abilities to research clinical information and convey it to other medical professionals. In addition, journal clubs allow preceptors to see if student is capable of evaluating medical literature and applying evidence to practice. Pharmaceutical care projects prepare students for direct patient interaction, improve communication skills, and increase clinical knowledge base. An exit exam is an excellent tool to assess if student reached rotation objectives. You can write a short multiple choice exam based on the discussion topics. Generally, the school’s experiential director or coordinator provides students with a list of require projects that they must complete during the course of the rotation. You will find detailed explanations of each project in the syllabus below or the click here [PDF] to see proposed projects.
- Patient case/Pharmaceutical care project (3 cases/1 PC project)
- Select one patient and follow up
- Have to interview the patient
- Student will be involved in direct patient care
- Provide recommendations
- Prepare written or PowerPoint summary
- Develop a pharmaceutical care project that can be continued by future students or staff
- Develop and implement a program for use by future students or staff
- Example: smoking cessation counseling, medication reconciliation, technology
- Examples:
- Sample evaluations:
- Guidelines:
- SOAP notes
-
Examples
-
Guidelines
- Evaluation sample form:
- Journal Club
- Journal Club guidelines:
- Examples:
- ASHP Virtual Journal Club
- Sample evaluation forms:
-
-
-
Formal presentation
-
30 min Power Point presentation on a newly approved drug or indication, a controversial topic, or disease state
-
Deliver to pharmacy and/or medical staff
-
Example?
-
Sample evaluation forms:
-
Other Project Ideas
-
Technician, pharmacy staff, or nursing in-service (shorter/focused presentation)
-
Drug-use evaluation review
-
Pharmacy & Therapeutics
-
Drug Information Paper
- Exit Exam
- A 20 question multiple choice exam on topics reviewed during the rotation
- CV Development
- Have students develop and submit their CV to you for review
- Provide the student with suggestions and feedback
Discussions
If time permits, preceptors should schedule times when they can discuss various topics with students. These discussion sessions allow preceptors to practice teaching while increasing the students’ knowledge base and strengthening student/preceptor relationships It may be helpful for you to provide the student with specific journal articles that were key in the development of certain opinions or standards for treatment or articles that they should be aware of on the topic. Also, encourage the student to study the guidelines (if available) for the topic. For an added challenge, near the end of the rotation have the student lead the discussion with just yourself, other pharmacy staff, or other students. It would also be helpful to provide the student with a detailed schedule of the topic discussions to allow for proper preparation. The schedule can be found here as proposed discussion [PDF]. The following is a sample list of recommended topics for discussion:
- Antibiotic review
- Pneumonia
- AIDS (drug review)/TB/Hepatitis
- Aminoglycosides and Vancomycin dosing
- Steven-johnson’s syndrome, drug allergies, DID
- Hospital formulary, IRB, PNT
- MI, stroke, HF, arrhythmias
- BP and cholesterol
- Warfarin dosing and monitoring
- Heparin and LMWH
- Diabetes (insulin, oral drugs, insulin injection, SSI)
- Alcohol Withdrawal, drug dependence
- Toxicology such as Acetaminophen poisoning
- Kidney failure, dialysis
- Pancreatitis, nutritional support review
- Pain management
- Pediatric drug dosing pediatric infections
- Lung disease, asthma
- Psychotropic medications
- Surgical prophylaxis, anesthesia
- GERD, electrolytes, psychiatric
- Oncology
- Drugs during pregnancy and lactation
- Medication Safety
- Administrative (e.g. T&T)
- Informatics
- Career laddering
- Role in the interpersonal teams
- Role of the professors
- Hypertensive urgency versus emergency
- Sepsis treatment
- Hyponatremia/hypernatremia
- Fluids and electrolytes
Evaluations
When evaluating student performance take into consideration students’ ability to effectively utilize available resources, enthusiasm, knowledge base, professional interaction and willingness to learn. Also consider what the expectations of ability level should be for a student at this point in their education as well as their progression from the start of the rotation to the conclusion. It may also be helpful for the student to complete a self-evaluation of their skills and progress for comparison. The following evaluations from different schools may serve as a useful tool in learning how to evaluate students and what competencies are generally required from students.
In the preceptor evaluation ask the student how the preceptor experience could improve. Ask for specific suggestions or comments for improvement of the experience or the site.
Projects evaluations
When evaluating projects take into consideration the student’s organizational, verbal, written, and professional skills. Students should be able to deliver projects using guidelines provided by preceptor or their school manual. Think about the objectives for the projects, and assess whether student met objectives. Provide constructive feedback on areas of improvement and areas the student had strength.
Mid-Point Evaluation:
At this point, you should have a clear idea of your student’s abilities. He/she should have completed some projects that reflect on performance. Reflect on the strengths the student has and also the areas they should focus on for improvement. Have the student also do a self-evaluation for comparison. The following is a sample mid-point evaluation form.
Final Evaluation
In your final grade, take under consideration the following questions:
-
Did student achieve objectives for this rotation?
-
Did student achieve competencies required in this rotation?
-
Was student enthusiastic about learning and providing patient care
-
Was student able to expand his/hers knowledge base?
-
Was student prepared for presentations and topic discussions?
-
Was student professional and courteous with staff and patients?
-
Was student willing to help when asked?
Other Information