Preceptor perceptions of contemporary practice skills among new graduates amid community pharmacy transformation

With community pharmacy transitioning from a fee-for-service model to a value-based care focus, the desired skills of pharmacist graduates is an evolving paradigm. As active stakeholders in community practice, pharmacist preceptors are in a unique position to compare the ever-changing dichotomy between pharmacy practice and training. Examining preceptors' assessments of these essential contemporary practice skills may provide useful insights.

A survey was emailed to all regional, active college of pharmacy community advanced pharmacy practice experiences preceptors. Participating preceptors were given 30 days to complete the online survey. Weekly reminders were provided.

Of the 168 preceptors invited to participate, 42 (25%) completed the survey. Descriptive analysis compared preceptors' perceptions of transformative services vs. their relative implementation in practice. This revealed service areas such as health screenings that were proportionate in their prevalence of offering and perception as contemporary. In contrast, services such as pharmacogenomic testing were more widely perceived as contemporary compared to their low prevalence as an offering. Participants showed broad consensus in the importance of most skills listed in the survey, predominantly indicating these skills were either "very important" or "extremely important." Only a few specific skills areas were identified that showed less consensus, with a minority of respondents specifying that these skills were of less importance.

Preceptor surveys may offer insights on the progression of community practice curricula. Continued monitoring of changes in service parameters over time may reveal trends in practice transformation, identifying service areas being more widely adopted.