Medical Residents' Informal Learning from Pharmacists in the Clinical Workplace.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Pharmacology
• Health Informatics

Background:

• Informal learning is crucial for resident physicians' development.
• Workplace interactions, particularly with pharmacists, offer learning opportunities.
• International differences in residency training and electronic health records (EHR) may influence learning.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how residents learn informally about medications.
• To examine resident-pharmacist interactions and their perceived impact on learning.
• To compare learning affordances and engagement patterns between US and Dutch residents.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional online survey with 25 items was administered to 173 residents (post-graduate years 1-6) in the US and Netherlands.
• The survey included closed-format and open-response questions.
• Participants were from the University of California San Francisco, University of Minnesota, and University Medical Center Utrecht.

Main Results:

• Residents engaged in diverse pharmacotherapy activities but utilized different resources for support.
• US residents frequently interacted with pharmacists and Up-To-Date; Dutch residents favored online medication sites and EHR resources.
• US residents perceived pharmacist interactions as highly beneficial for learning, while Dutch residents did not report the same impact.

Conclusions:

• Significant differences exist in how US and Dutch residents engage with pharmacists and other resources for informal medication learning.
• Pharmacist interactions appear to positively impact US residents' learning about medications.
• Integrating intentional pharmacist interaction opportunities into residency training could enhance informal workplace learning.