Experience using a state board of pharmacy adequate staffing form: A descriptive report

Between 30 and 50 % of all medication errors may be attributable to inadequate pharmacy staffing. Potentially understaffed pharmacies have garnered national media attention and fostered workforce crises. As such, Boards of Pharmacy (BOPs) have codified laws requiring pharmacists to document inadequate staffing events. Thus, a need exists to prepare students for pharmacy workplace phenomena.

The purpose of this report was to describe two educational activities using the Oklahoma BOP adequate staffing report form. Third-year student pharmacists enrolled in a required, skills-based course completed two formative activities, a knowledge quiz and written assignment, developed from a BOP adequate staffing report form.

Forty-one students were enrolled and completed the quiz, and thirty-six completed the staffing report form (87.8 % completion). Mean (standard deviation) scores on the quiz and form were 78.8 % (14.9) and 81.7 % (18.7), respectively. On the quiz, 83 % and 88 % of students achieved low taxonomy learning objectives recalling medication errors and identifying required reporting elements, respectively; however, 65 % of students achieved a high taxonomy objective to document required information. On the written assignment, over 90 % of students provided suggestions to prevent recurrent inadequate staffing, whereas 30 % of students neglected including sufficient summaries of events surrounding an inadequate staffing scenario.

Over 80 % of student pharmacists recalled and identified necessary information to include on a BOP staffing form, though only 65 % achieved high taxonomy objectives tagged to form completion. Findings of this work suggest that further efforts are needed to prepare and assess student pharmacists' acumen concerning the characteristics and events surrounding inadequately staffed pharmacies, and also their readiness to respond to these environments. Ongoing research should continue to quantify the extent and impact of staffing levels to optimize resources required to improve both patient safety and outcomes and to provide evidence-based guidance for regulatory measures and public policy.