An evaluation of an interdisciplinary joint clinical placement between podiatry and pharmacy students

Simon J. Otter*, Caroline J. Robinson, Delyth James, Marcus C. Allen, John G. Davies, Graham Stew

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate a new joint clinical placement for third year undergraduate Pharmacy and Podiatry students. The purpose of which was to foster interprofessional education, enhance multidisciplinary working, and improve drug history taking, analysis and evaluation for students on both courses. The study involved a pre and post semi-structured questionnaire design targeted at 93 students attending a joint clinical placement. Podiatry students reported an increase in confidence in taking a patient case history, taking and documenting a drug history and communicating with other health professionals. Smaller increases in confidence were reported in identifying medication-related problems, assessing patient compliance and understanding the pharmacological basis of disease management. Pharmacy students reported an increase in confidence for all of the above descriptors and also constructing and prioritising pharmaceutical problem lists. Neither group reported high confidence levels with regard to the ability to critically discuss disease management. This study demonstrated that an interprofessional clinical placement can be an effective learning and teaching strategy for third year undergraduate Pharmacy and Podiatry students.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)253-260
Number of pages8
JournalPharmacy Education
Volume3
Issue number4
Publication statusPublished - Sept 2003
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Healthcare
  • Interprofessional learning
  • Pharmacy
  • Podiatry
  • Undergraduate

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