A Deeper Reflection on the Integration of the Pharmacists' Patient Care Process

Given the importance of developing student understanding and application of the Pharmacists' Patient Care Process (PPCP), programs may be able to use successful approaches from other institutions to enhance their curricular and experiential learning and assessment of student outcomes. The study objective was to explore successful methods of integrating the PPCP and outline areas of challenge.

This study used a qualitative study design with semistructured interviews to gain insight from participants' lived experiences. Pharmacy faculty members participating in a national survey or who were authors of articles about PPCP initiatives were recruited to provide greater detail about building successful and innovative curricula. Thematic analysis identified commonalities and differences among the interviewed participants.

A total of 10 interviews were conducted. The following 4 overarching themes arose from the data: discussions around intentional integration of the PPCP across multiple core courses may foster innovations in teaching strategies; intentional integration alone does not equate to PPCP integration across the curriculum; intentional integration may enhance program assessment; and PPCP data from experiential coursework may not be widely used in curricular continuous quality improvement.

Pharmacy programs will ideally involve the entire faculty, including experiential and basic and social/administrative science members, in weaving the PPCP throughout the curriculum. Rigorous assessment can better inform interventions related to student competency in various steps of the PPCP. Pharmacy programs should also clarify how data obtained from preceptors observing student performance in each of the PPCP steps are used to assess student mastery of this critical skill.