A Teamwork Workshop to Improve Pharmacy Students' Growth Mindset and Communication Skills

Objective. To determine the impact of a workshop on the growth mindset and team communication of first year Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) students.Methods. A multi-week workshop was developed for first year pharmacy students. The workshop included completion of the StrengthsFinder 2.0, a session on identifying individual and team member strengths, a session on situational communication and conflict resolution models, and a work-up of two pharmacy scenarios requiring conflict resolution. The workshop was delivered to two intervention groups (fall 2019 and fall 2018) and compared to a control group (fall 2017). A pre-post survey was administered to measure change in students' growth mindset and team communication using the validated Growth Mindset and Team Communication (GMTC) tool. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent sample t tests, and chi-square tests to compare difference and association. Focus groups were conducted in fall 2017 and fall 2018 to assess students' views regarding teamwork.Results. Team communication subscale scores increased significantly among students in the intervention group while there was no significant change in these scores among students in the control group. The focus groups reflected that students had overall positive views about team communication and collaboration, which were also supported by discussions of advantages and challenges during teamwork.Conclusion. A teamwork workshop affected pharmacy students' communication skills. Future work should focus on longitudinal measurement of students' self-views to determine the long-term impact of teamwork training interventions.