Comparison of full-time faculty preceptor and volunteer preceptor evaluations of experiential students

Oftentimes, students believe that faculty preceptors have different expectations than volunteer preceptors during experiential rotations. Despite this perception, there is no published data reporting the actual differences in volunteer and faculty evaluations. This study determined if students placed with volunteer preceptors experience a different level of evaluation rigor than students placed with full-time faculty preceptors on advanced pharmacy practice experiences (APPEs).

A retrospective analysis of preceptor evaluations of student pharmacists enrolled in acute care or ambulatory care APPEs from June 2016 to May 2019 was completed to determine differences between full-time faculty preceptors and volunteer preceptors. Results were analyzed using Fisher's exact testing.

When comparing evaluation results from volunteer and full-time faculty preceptors, a statistically significant difference was demonstrated in both acute care and ambulatory care for two of ten questions on APPE formative evaluations. No difference was observed when comparing faculty and volunteer preceptor ratings across five summative assessments.

Preceptor evaluations of APPE students in acute care and ambulatory care settings revealed limited statistically significant differences on formative assessment over three years, while required summative assessments showed no statistically significant differences between pharmacy practice faculty and volunteer preceptors. This indicates that any difference in rigor regarding APPE student performance between volunteer and faculty preceptors is limited.