Adam M. Persky

Inspiring Inquiry and Improvement in Pharmacy Practice, Education, and Policy A quarterly publication featuring case studies, clinical experiences, commentaries, idea papers, original research, and review articles that focus on the leading edge, novel ideas for improving, modernizing, and advancing pharmacy practice, education, and policy. INNOVATIONS in pharmacy is an academic, peer reviewed, open-access journal. Sponsored by U of MN College of Pharmacy Inspiring Inquiry and Improvement in Pharmacy Practice, Education, and Policy. A quarterly publication featuring case studies, clinical experiences, commentaries, idea papers, original research, review articles, and student projects that focus on leading edge, novel ideas for improving, modernizing, and advancing pharmacy practice, education, and policy. INNOVATIONS in pharmacy.

The objective of this study was to evaluate microlearning as a preceptor development method compared to a traditional method of learning. Twenty-five preceptor participants volunteered to engage in a learning intervention about two preceptor development topics. Participants were randomized 1:1 to either a thirty-minute traditional learning experience or a fifteen-minute microlearning experience; participants then crossed over to the other intervention for comparison. Primary outcomes were satisfaction, changes in knowledge, self-efficacy, and perception of behavior, confidence scale, and self-reported frequency of behavior, respectively. One-way repeated measures ANOVA and Wilcoxon paired t-tests were used to analyze knowledge and self-efficacy, and Wilcoxon paired t-tests were utilized to assess satisfaction and perception of behavior. Most participants preferred microlearning over the traditional method (72% vs. 20%, p = 0.007). Free text satisfaction responses were analyzed using inductive coding and thematic analysis. Participants reported that microlearning was more engaging and efficient. There were no significant differences in knowledge, self-efficacy, or perception of behavior between microlearning and the traditional method. Knowledge and self-efficacy scores for each modality increased compared to the baseline. Microlearning shows promise for educating pharmacy preceptors. Further study is needed to confirm the findings and determine optimal delivery approaches.

Objective. The objective of this review is to maximize the utility of in administering peer assessments in teamwork settings in professional pharmacy curricula. Findings. There is a lack of best practices for using peer assessments in the academic setting. The studies reviewed used peer assessments of team for formative and summative assessment, assessing teamwork at limited number of time points to multiple time points; attaching student names to the assessment or being anonymous, and with explanation of why the tool was being used to no explanation. Conclusion. To get the best use of peer assessments, instructors must define the purpose for their use, explain the purpose of teamwork, orient students to the tool being used, assess teamwork over time and provide feedback, minimize grades associated with the assessment, and use partial anonymity when collecting feedback.

A growing body of literature describes teaching practices that are positively associated with student achievement. Observing, characterizing, and providing feedback on these teaching practices is a necessary, yet significant challenge to improving teaching quality. This study describes the design, implementation, and evaluation of an instructional coaching program created to provide formative feedback to instructors based on their use of evidence-based teaching practices. The program was designed for formative purposes utilizing an instrument adapted from the Teaching Practices Inventory. All faculty were invited to participate in the program on a voluntary basis when the program launched in Fall 2019. Program coaches included any School personnel who completed required training. Two rounds of instrument development were conducted with multiple observers and assessed using Krippendorff’s Alpha. The program was evaluated using an anonymous post-session survey. Interrater reliability of the form improved over two rounds of piloting and no differences were found in scoring between trainees and education professionals. Seventeen observations were completed by nine coaches. Instructors indicated that feedback was practical, timely, specific, and collegial, suggesting that including student perspectives (e.g., focus groups, student course evaluations) in the coaching program might be helpful. Creating programs that emphasize and foster the use of evidence-based teaching are critical for health professions education. Additional research is needed to further develop coaching programs that ensure teaching practices in the health professions are optimizing student learning.

Objective. To review mastery learning and provide recommendations for implementation in a competency-based curriculum Findings. Mastery learning was introduced in the 1960s. Its goal is to ensure all students reach a desired level of mastery or competency. In this model, students acquire knowledge, skills or attitudes, complete formative assessments on that learning and if they achieve the desired level, can proceed to enrichment activities. Students who do not meet the desired level of mastery, proceed through corrective activities and retest. Evidence suggests students within a mastery learning model perform better academically than non-mastery models with moderate effect sizes. There are several theoretical reasons why mastery learning can result in better performance including aspects of motivation, testing and feedback. Conclusion. We make several recommendations on how to modernize mastery learning for the pharmacy education classroom including the use of more cumulative testing and assessment of baseline knowledge and skills. In addition, models of successive relearning may be applied to this model.

Objective. To validate a faculty observation and determine the extent to which students can recreate a recently completed examination from memory. Methods. After two mid-term examinations, students were asked, as a class, to recreate recently completed examinations. Students were given 48 hours to recreate the examination, including details about the questions and answer choices. For accuracy and extent of reproduction, the results were compared to the original examination version. Results. The students were able to collectively recreate 90% of questions on the two examinations. For most questions (51%), students also recreated the question in combination with a correct response and at least one incorrect response. A large majority of the questions recreated were considered medium to high accuracy as they contained detailed phrasing that aligned with the original question on the examination. Conclusion. The collective memory of a group of students allows them to recreate almost an entire completed examination from memory. Based on the findings of the study and tenets of social psychology, we discuss the potential implications for examination security, providing feedback on examinations, and whether completed examinations should be released to students following the examination.