Does Team Based Learning (TBL) in the Pharmacy Classroom Foster Leadership Skills in the Workplace?

Objective: A well-functioning healthcare team is important to optimizing the health outcomes of patients. As such, the use of Team Based Learning (TBL) in the education of health professionals has emerged as one of the more common active learning strategies. In various anecdotes with preceptors, it had been observed that student pharmacists educated in a TBL classroom exhibited increased skills in the affective domain. This qualitative pilot study begins to examine affective domain skills that are important to pharmacy practice and which of those skills may be developed uniquely through TBL. Methods: Random samples of preceptors and students (first through fourth-year cohorts), were engaged using a predesigned interview protocol to guide the discussion. Ad hoc questions resulting from the interview were also captured. A grounded theory approach was utilized to develop an a priori theme codebook that was utilized to analyze the interviews with preceptors and focus groups with students. Results: Nine preceptors were interviewed, and 23 student pharmacists participated in focus groups. Preceptors identified 1) communication, 2) emotional intelligence, 3) education, 4) time management, and 5) advocacy as the top themes important to being a leader. While students identified 1) communicate with or listen to others, 2) accountability/responsibility, 3) patience, 4) self-reflection / feedback as skills developed by TBL. Participants indicated that they believed that TBL was a contributor to the development of affective domain skills among student pharmacists. Conclusion: Among preceptors and student pharmacists, this initial study found both alignment and divergence with identified skills in the affective domain related to the development of leadership skills. Additional research is needed to further explore and develop an instrument to measure the role of TBL in affective skill development, in the context of being a leader in the pharmacy profession.