Clinical decision-making and dispensing performance in pharmacy students and its relationship to executive function...

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Pharmaceutical Sciences

Background:

• Pharmacists utilize complex decision-making involving information recall and clinical reasoning.
• Executive functions, such as spatial working memory and verbal reasoning, are crucial for effective pharmaceutical care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine if executive function and implicit memory markers predict clinical decision-making and dispensing performance in pharmacy students.
• To investigate the role of cognitive abilities in the competence of future pharmacists.

Main Methods:

• Pharmacy students completed cognitive tests measuring executive functions (verbal working memory, visuospatial working memory) and implicit memory.
• Clinical decision-making was assessed via case studies, and dispensing accuracy was evaluated through a prescription screening task.

Main Results:

• Visuospatial working memory and implicit memory performance explained 63% of the variance in clinical decision-making ability.
• Visuospatial working memory and verbal working memory performance accounted for approximately 30% of the variance in dispensing accuracy.

Conclusions:

• Specific cognitive domains are significant predictors of clinical decision-making and dispensing performance in pharmacy.
• These findings underscore the importance of individual cognitive factors in assessing and ensuring clinical competence in pharmacy practice.