Student Confidence and Knowledge Pre and Post a Capstone Course

Abstract

Specific Aims: To determine the impact of a capstone course, Pharmacy Practice (PhPr) 811 entitled Advanced Patient Care, on preparing third-year University of Arizona College of Pharmacy (UA COP) Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) students for their advanced pharmacy practice experiences and their future responsibilities as members of interprofessional healthcare teams. Methods: This study used pretest-posttest design. A survey was utilized to assess both the student’s self-confidence and knowledge in managing eight, commonly-encountered acute and chronic disease states. The students’ level of self-confidence in clinically managing patients with the specified disease states was measured using 17 questions on a 5-point Likert-type scale, while their knowledge was assessed using eight multiple-choice questions. Main Results: A total of 83 students participated in the study by completing both the pre- and post-course surveys (87.4% response rate). Following completion of the course, mean confidence score increased significantly to 4.01 (±0.80, p<0.001), while mean knowledge score increased slightly to 6.85 (±1.08). Positive change scores were determined for each self-assessed confidence item (0.90 ± 0.90), which indicated a significant increase in students’ overall level of confidence (p <0.001). On the other hand, the change in knowledge resulted in an overall positive change (0.47 ±1.19), which was not statistically significant (p= 0.47). Conclusion: The Advanced Patient Care course, PhPr 811, positively impacted the students’ self-assessed level of confidence. Even though the level of knowledge did not change significantly due to high baseline level, the students’ confidence level for clinical management increased significantly after participating in the capstone course.