Pharmacy students’ ability to identify the steps of the pharmacists’ patient care process during IPPE

Objective. To determine the ability of first-year Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) students to describe patient care activities performed by pharmacists and accurately associate those activities with the five core steps of the Pharmacists’ Patient Care Process (PPCP). Methods. First-year student pharmacists completed introductory practice experiences at ambulatory and institutional pharmacies. Students’ ability to describe activities that occurred in these settings and align them with the five core steps (collect, assess, plan, implement, and follow-up) of the PPCP were assessed. Results. The students were more adept in describing patient care activities and aligning them to the appropriate PPCP steps in an ambulatory pharmacy setting than in an institutional pharmacy setting. Students achieved higher scores when describing and aligning patient care activities associated with the collect and implement steps in an ambulatory pharmacy setting and for the assess step in an institutional pharmacy setting. Conclusion. As institutions strive to adopt the PPCP in all areas of the curriculum, this application serves as an example of successful PPCP integration early in the introductory experiential curriculum. Our results challenge faculty to provide early opportunities for students to apply the PPCP in a variety of practice settings, including settings focused on the medication distribution system.