Developing a process to manage challenges encountered by experiential education administrators

Area of Science:

• Pharmacy Education
• Experiential Learning
• Healthcare Administration

Background:

• Pharmacy experiential education settings face challenges related to preceptors and students.
• Experiential education administrators (EEAs) play a crucial role in managing these issues.
• Understanding reported problems and applied solutions is vital for optimizing educational experiences.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore preceptor and student-related issues in pharmacy experiential education.
• To identify solutions applied by EEAs to manage these challenges.
• To inform a process for effectively managing issues in experiential education settings.

Main Methods:

• A two-phase mixed-methods study involving five EEAs from three pharmacy schools in phase one.
• Quantitative and qualitative data collection on reported issues and solutions, analyzed using descriptive statistics and content analysis.
• Phase two included interviews with six EEAs from four schools, analyzed using open coding, pattern coding, and summative analysis.

Main Results:

• A total of 156 and 65 issues were reported by preceptors and students, respectively.
• Key issues included student reliability/responsibility (22, 14%) and preceptor communication (13, 20%).
• Frequently applied solutions were coaching preceptors (51, 24%) and meeting with students (20, 24%), with a desire for preventative strategies like data tracking and training.

Conclusions:

• Two primary approaches for EEAs to resolve student and preceptor issues were identified: proactive and reactive.
• The proactive process involves tracking issues to inform student and preceptor development.
• The reactive approach includes meeting with parties, gathering information, coaching, and escalating serious concerns.