Value of the Student Pharmacist to Experiential Practice Sites: A Review of the Literature

Abstract

Spanish

French

Objective:

To summarize the literature addressing clinical services provided by pharmacy students and the economic implications associated with those services.

Data Sources:

A literature search was performed through MEDLINE and International Pharmaceutical Abstracts from their inception through December 2011. Search terms included pharmacy students, doctor of pharmacy students, clinical interventions, documentations, and medication histories.

Study Selection and Data Extraction:

All research articles and abstracts published in English were included. Studies were excluded if they were not conducted in the US. Articles were reviewed and abstracted for number of interventions and proportion of total interventions performed by pharmacy students, type and duration of advanced practice experience, patient care location, time required for interventions, frequency of interventions that were accepted or implemented, and financial assessment of interventions when reported.

Data Synthesis:

A total of 29 fully published studies and 6 abstracts were identified. The majority of the studies evaluated the number of student recommendations made and the acceptance rate of those recommendations. On average, individual students made between 1.2 and 16 recommendations to prescribers per week. The acceptance rate ranged from 32% to 98%. In addition to recommendations, students performed intravenous to oral dose conversions and obtained medication histories. All of the studies that assessed the economic impact of student pharmacist involvement reported a cost savings or cost avoidance associated with having pharmacy students at the institution.

Conclusions:

Pharmacy students provide many recommendations with high acceptance rates. During their pharmacy practice experiences, students generally confer economic and clinical benefits that may exceed the costs associated with their supervision and training.

Keywords

clinical interventions pharmacy students

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

ACPE Board of Directors and Executive Staff. Update responses to AACP Council of Faculties questions. Presented at: AACP Annual Meeting, San Antonio, TX, July 13, 2011.

American Pharmacists Association and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. Concerns about the accelerating expansion of pharmacy education: time for reconsideration. A discussion paper prepared by the American Pharmacists Association and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. http://www.pharmacist.com/ContentFolders3/NewsReleases/2010/OctDec/WP_Concerns_abouth_the_Accelerating_Expansin_of_Pharmacy_Education_FINAL.pdf (accessed 2011 Nov 2).

Taylor

, Church

, Byrd

. Documentation of clinical interventions by pharmacy faculty, residents, and students. Ann Pharmacother 2000; 34:843–7. DOI 10.1345/aph.19310

Briceland

, Kane

, Hamilton

. Evaluation of patient-care interventions by PharmD clerkship students. Am J Hosp Pharm 1992; 49:1130–2.

Slaughter

, Erickson

, Thomson

. Clinical interventions provided by doctor of pharmacy students. Ann Pharmacother 1994; 28:665–70.

Chisholm

, Hawkins

, Taylor

. Providing pharmaceutical care: are pharmacy students beneficial to patients? Hosp Pharm 1997; 32:370–5.

Reddick

, Murphy

. Evaluating the clinical interventions of students during clerkships using a cognitive services claim form. Am J Pharm Educ 2000; 64:38–43. DOI aj640107.pdf

Mackinnon

. Analysis of pharmacy student interventions collected via an Internet based system. Am J Pharm Educ 2003; 67:1–12. DOI aj670390.pdf

DiVall

, Zikaras

, Copeland

, Gonyeau

. School-wide clinical intervention system to document pharmacy students' impact on patient care. Am J Pharm Educ 2010; 74:1–8. DOI aj740114.pdf

10.

McCollum

, Nuffer

, Ellis

, Turner

. Physician acceptance of pharmacotherapy recommendations made by pharmacy students in a rural pharmacy-based diabetes care and education clinic. Am J Pharm Educ 2009; 73:1. DOI aj730224.pdf

11.

Lundquist

, Moye

. Resident physicians' acceptance of pharmacy students' pharmacotherapy recommendations during an ambulatory care advanced pharmacy practice experience. Am J Pharm Educ 2009; 73:1. DOI aj7308145.pdf

12.

Fit

. Documentation of student pharmacists' interventions from medication histories in a primary care setting. J Pharm Technol 2008; 24:330–5.

13.

Sweeney

, Marazon

, Burke

, Fuci

, Huffman

. Effects of pharmacy student interventions on a family medicine residency program. J Am Pharm Assoc 2000; 40:92–4.

14.

Anderson

, Nykamp

, Miyahara

. Documentation of pharmaceutical care activities in community pharmacies by doctor of pharmacy students. J Pharm Pract 1995; 8:83–8.

15.

Abdelhalim

, Mohundro

, Evans

. Role of student pharmacists in the identification and prevention of medication-related problems. J Am Pharm Assoc 2011; 51:627–30. DOI 10.1331/JAPhA.2011.09101

16.

Dalai

, McCall

, Fike

, Horton

, Allen

. Pharmacy students provide care comparable to pharmacists in an outpatient anticoagulation setting. Am J Pharm Educ 2010; 74:1–4. DOI aj740114.pdf

17.

Brockmiller

, Abel

, Koh-Knox

, Birk

. Cost impact of PharmD candidates' drug therapy recommendations. Am J Health Syst Pharm 1999; 56:882–4.

18.

Pound

, Miller

. Written versus oral recommendations made by pharmacy students during internal medicine rotations. Ann Pharmacother 2007; 41:772–6. DOI 10.1345/aph.1H668

19.

Pham

. Evaluating the impact of clinical interventions by PharmD students on internal medicine clerkships: the results of a 3-year study. Ann Pharmacother 2006; 40:1541–5. DOI 10.1345/aph.1H142

20.

Mueller

, Abel

. Impact of college of pharmacy-based educational services within the hospital. DICP 1990; 24:422–5.

21.

Condren

, Haase

, Luedtke

, Gaylor

. Clinical activities of an academic pediatric pharmacy team. Ann Pharmacother 2004; 38:574–8. DOI 10.1345/aph.1D384

22.

Sauer

, Herren

, Walker

, King

, Mussallam

. Computerized documentation of activities of PharmD clerkship students. Am J Health Syst Pharm 1997; 54:1727–32.

23.

Dennehy

, Kroon

, Byrne

, Koda-Kimble

. Increase in number and diversity of clinical interventions by PharmD students over a clerkship rotation. Am J Pharm Educ 1998; 62:373–9.

24.

Chisholm

, Hawkins

. Analysis of pharmacotherapeutic recommendations provided by Doctor of Pharmacy clerkship students. J Pharm Teaching 1996; 5:3–12.

25.

Campbell

, Nelson

, Elliott

, Hieber

, Sommi

. Analysis of cost avoidance from pharmacy students' clinical interventions at a psychiatric hospital. Am J Pharm Educ 2011; 75:1–7. DOI aj75018.pdf

26.

Marino

, Caballero

, Llosent

, Hinkes

. Differences in pharmacy interventions at a psychiatric hospital: comparison of staff pharmacists, pharmacy faculty, and student pharmacists. Hosp Pharm 2010; 45:314–9. DOI 10.1310/hpj4504-314

27.

Bock

, Duong

, Williams

. Enhancing clinical services by using pharmacy students during advanced experiential rotations. Am J Health Syst Pharm 2008; 65:566–9. DOI 10.2146/ajhp070336

28.

Carey

, Cross

, Silva

, Stefan

, Rothberg

. Pharmacy student impact on inappropriate prescribing of acid suppressive therapy. Am J Pharm Educ 2011; 75:1–4. DOI 10.5688/ajpe759175

29.

Paul

, Staat

, Hagerman

. Impact of pharmacy student interventions during internal medicine rotations at three Michigan teaching institutions. Am J Pharm Educ 2008; 72:70–1.

30.

Silvia

, Antonellis

. Analysis of the quantity and quality of pharmacy student interventions in a state hospital (abstract). American Society of Health-System Pharmacists Midyear Clinical Meeting, 2005; 40:P-513D.

31.

Jennings

, Poe

, Eberwein

. Savings associated with the clinical activities of doctor of pharmacy students during advance pharmacy practice experiences (abstract). American Society of Health-System Pharmacists Midyear Clinical Meeting, 2004; 39:P101D

32.

Shara

, Garis

, Moore

. Positive economic impact of pharmacy clerkship students in an intensive care unit. Am J Pharm Educ 2001; 65:84S.

33.

Kale-Pradhan

, Buckler

. Assessment of significance of clinical interventions by doctors of pharmacy students in a surgical intensive care unit (abstract). Pharmacotherapy 1997; 17:1127.

34.

Lessard

, De Young

, Vazzana

. Medication discrepancies affecting senior patients at hospital admission. Am J Health Syst Pharm 2006; 63:740–3. DOI 10.2146/ajhp050291

35.

Mersfelder

, Bickel

. Inpatient medication history verification by pharmacy students. Am J Health Syst Pharm 2008; 65:2273–5. DOI 10.2146/ajhp080013

36.

Lubowski

, Cronin

, Pavelka

, Briscoe-Dwyer

, Briceland

, Hamilton

. Effectiveness of a medication reconciliation project conducted by PharmD students. Am J Pharm Educ 2007; 71:1–7. DOI aj710594.pdf

37.

Johnson

, Van Metre

. Evaluation of medication reconciliation documentation using pharmacy students in an adult ICU (abstract). American Society of Health-System Pharmacists Midyear Clinical Meeting, 2010: MSC-13.

38.

Carter

, Draugalis

, Slack

. Impact of clerkship students on pharmacy-site output. Am J Health Syst Pharm 1996; 53:1694–700.

39.

Davis

, Rudd

. Cost of training doctor of pharmacy students in a clinical practice setting. Am J Hosp Pharm 1990; 47:2288–90.

40.

Bond

, Raehl

, Franke

. Clinical pharmacy services, pharmacy staffing, and the total cost of care in United States hospitals. Pharmacotherapy 2000; 20:609–21. DOI 10.1592/phoc20.7.60935169

41.

Anderson

. Assessment of clinical service contracts between hospital pharmacies and colleges of pharmacy. Hosp Pharm 1992; 27:499, 503–7.

42.

Ray

, Helms

. Assessing the value of services provided by pharmacy faculty on a contractual basis. Am J Health Syst Pharm 2010; 67:1463–6. DOI 102146/ajhp100089

43.

Slack

, Draugalis

. Models for estimating the impact of clerkship students on pharmacy practice sites. Am J Hosp Pharm 1994; 51:525–30.

44.

Expanding the number of positions for pharmacy residents: highlights from the Pharmacy Residency Capacity Stakeholders' Conference. Am J Health Syst Pharm 2011; 68: 1843–9. DOI 10.2146/ajhp110246