A Reflective Assignment Assessing Pharmacy Students' Interprofessional Collaborative Practice Exposure During...

Objective. To assess the effectiveness of a required reflective writing assignment to document students' exposure to and experience with interprofessional collaborative practice (IPCP) during introductory pharmacy practice experiences (IPPEs). Methods. Pharmacy students completed the assignment during their community or institutional pharmacy IPPE and electronically submitted their written reflections. Twelve codes were created to indicate opportunities, barriers, and patient-centered care identified in the community pharmacy reflections. Fourteen codes were created to indicate interprofessional communication, roles, patient-centered care, and teamwork identified in the institutional pharmacy reflections. The reflections were then qualitatively analyzed to identify and code themes related to IPCP. Results. Two hundred twenty-eight reflections were submitted. Exposure to an observed IPCP was described in 51% of the community pharmacy reflections and in 100% of the institutional pharmacy reflections. Identified opportunities to improve IPCP in community pharmacy were extended pharmacy services, expanded networking and relationships, making more phone calls to other health professionals, and greater use of technology. The identified barriers to IPCP in community pharmacy were difficulty accessing patient health data, lack of direct access to prescribers, hierarchy, pharmacy workload, and lack of timely communication. The identified themes that impacted IPCP in institutional settings included dysfunctional communication, technology use, mutual respect, role overlap, teamwork, nonphysician leadership, and personal relationships. Conclusion. Implementing a reflective assignment during IPPEs was an effective way to document student exposure to and experience in IPCP in two types of pharmacy practice settings and helped to meet pharmacy accreditation standards of having IPE included in early experiential education settings.