Using the Pharmacist Interaction Tracking Tool for Capturing Student-Patient Interactions in Direct and Simulated...

Area of Science:

• Pharmacy Education
• Health Professions Education
• Data Collection Tools

Background:

• Standardized data collection is crucial for evaluating student progress in pharmacy practice.
• Existing methods may not adequately capture the breadth of student-patient interactions in diverse settings.
• Tracking curricular outcomes requires consistent and quantifiable interaction data.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and implement a standardized data collection tool for student-patient interactions.
• To quantify student engagement in both direct and simulated patient care activities.
• To facilitate the tracking of student progression towards achieving defined curricular outcomes.

Main Methods:

• Faculty and students collaborated to design the data collection tool (PITT Form).
• The tool was implemented for use by students across all professional years.
• Data captured included interaction types, patient numbers, provider engagement, and drug-related problems.

Main Results:

• Over 27,000 entries were completed during the 2013-2014 academic year.
• The majority of entries (64%) were from advanced pharmacy practice experiences.
• Data revealed 11,090 direct patient interactions and identification of 14,252 drug-related problems.

Conclusions:

• The PITT Form effectively collects data from real and simulated patient care.
• The tool supports curricular assessment across different academic years.
• Data generated by the PITT Form is valuable for student portfolios and institutional evaluation.