Cheryl E. Cox

Preparing health science students to be effective health care team members: the InterProfessional Initiative at the University of Alberta

The InterProfessional Initiative at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, provides learning strategies to be effective health care team members for over 800 undergraduate students in 14 health professions. This paper traces the evolution of the initiative over the past decade and describes future directions. Particular attention is given to the administrative and academic structures and processes required to launch, develop and sustain an initiative of this scale in a major research-intensive university. The paper concludes by reviewing the evaluative work underway and reflecting on the key success factors.

Evaluation of a practice enhancement program to implement pharmaceutical care

Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Alberta, 3118 Dentistry/Pharmacy Building, Edmonton, AB T6G 2N8, Canada; b Structured Pharmacy Education Programs, The University of British Columbia, 2146 East Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T1Z3, Canada; Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2G3, Canada; Alberta Health, Edmonton, AB T5J 2N3, Canada; Health Economics, Hoechst-Marion Rousell, Laval, Quebec, H7L 4A8, Canada

A Collaborative Approach to Improving and Expanding an Experiential Education Program

The lessons learned from a collaboration between a faculty of pharmacy and a practice site that involved implementation of an innovative experiential placement model are described, as well as the broader impact of the project on other practice sites, the faculty of pharmacy’s experiential education program, and experiential placement capacity. The partnerships and collaborative strategies formed were key to the implementation and evaluation of a pharmacy student clinical teaching unit pilot program and integration of concepts used in the unit into the advanced pharmacy practice experience (APPE) program to enhance capacity and quality. The university-practice partnerships have made it possible to promote the delegation of responsibility and accountability for patient care to students, challenge the anticipated workload burden for preceptors, question the optimal length of an APPE placement, and highlight the value of higher student-to-preceptor ratios that facilitate peer-assisted learning (PAL) and optimize the practice learning experiences for preceptors and students. Collaboration in experiential education between universities and practice sites can provide opportunities to address challenges faced by practitioners and academics alike.

Pharmacy students screening for pre-diabetes/diabetes with a validated questionnaire in community pharmacies during their experiential rotation in Alberta, Canada

Purpose: Type 2 diabetes is a major condition impacting morbidity, mortality, and health care costs in Canada. Pharmacists are very accessible and are in an ideal position to promote public health education. The primary goal of this study was to incorporate public health promotion and education into a community pharmacy experiential education rotation for fourth year pharmacy students to screen for the risk of pre-diabetes/diabetes in adults. A secondary goal was to determine the frequency of common risk factors for pre-diabetes/diabetes in adults in the community setting. Method: Fourth year pharmacy students were invited to recruit all adults 25 years or older attending community pharmacies to complete a pre-diabetes/diabetes risk assessment questionnaire. If the participants were at risk, the participants were provided education about risk reduction for developing pre-diabetes/diabetes. Results: A total of 340 participants completed a risk assessment questionnaire. Over 90% of people approached agreed to complete a risk assessment questionnaire. The common risk factors were overweight (154/45%), hypertension (102/30%), taking medications for hypertension (102/30%), and having symptoms of diabetes (111/33%). The ethnic minorities have 2.56 (confidence interval = 1.48–44.1) times greater odds of having a family history of diabetes compared to non-minority subjects. Conclusion: Pharmacy students are able to screen community-based patients for pre-diabetes/diabetes risks. The most common risk factors presented were overweight, hypertension, and taking medications for hypertension.