Clinical pharmacy experiential education and training: A White Paper on preceptor development

Abstract

Pharmacist’s responsibility has grown with increased clinical pharmacy education and practice in the experiential training curriculum. This transition necessitates acquiring advanced clinical skills and experiential training by pharmacists and pharmacy educators. An experiential curriculum should complement the didactic curriculum and align with the overall program goals of the school of pharmacy. When developing an experiential curriculum, vital phases must be addressed including analysis, design, practice site development, identifying preceptors, and implementation. The analysis phase of rotation development collects and evaluates data regarding the student, preceptor, and practice site. The design phase is the nucleus or central coordinating function that assures the alignment and coordination of learning objectives, activities, and evaluations. Next, developing pharmacy practice sites that are designed to create opportunities for students to gain practice experiences commensurate with the expectations of the curriculum set forth by the pharmacy program is essential. There also needs to be a detailed and ongoing process instituted to ensure the selection and development of qualified practitioners/preceptors. Lastly and most importantly, the implementation phase is where the actual training delivery occurs. During this period, all the tools and materials for the rotation are gathered, and the procedure for training both preceptors and students is delivered and refined. There also needs to be detailed and prompt feedback on performance paired with opportunities to put this feedback into practice. A well-defined experiential curriculum including the prerequisites for practice sites and preceptors should be available at pharmacy schools.