Service or Disservice? Ensuring Pharmacy Students Provide Authentic Service-Learning

Area of Science:

• Pharmacy Education
• Experiential Learning
• Community Engagement

Background:

• Service-learning is common in US pharmacy curricula, offering experiential education benefits.
• It reinforces didactic learning and develops essential soft skills for pharmacy practice.
• However, current community service activities may not meet criteria for authentic service-learning.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the extent to which service-learning in pharmacy education meets the criteria for authenticity.
• To identify key components necessary for genuine service-learning experiences.

Main Methods:

• The study critically examined the definition and essential elements of authentic service-learning.
• It assessed common practices in pharmacy education against these criteria.

Main Results:

• Authentic service-learning necessitates structured learning outcomes, prepared students, and mutual benefits.
• Faculty-guided reflection is crucial for student learning and development.
• Many current service activities may lack these essential components, questioning their authenticity.

Conclusions:

• Pharmacy schools may overestimate the prevalence of authentic service-learning.
• Ensuring structured outcomes, student engagement, mutual benefits, and guided reflection is vital.
• Further refinement of service-learning programs is needed to achieve genuine educational impact.