Active involvement of patients in pharmacist education has a positive impact on students’ perspective: a pilot study

BACKGROUND: Patient-led education contributes to the implementation of practical experience of working with patients in health care professional curricula. There are few descriptions of patients’ involvement in pharmacists’ training and most often, the patients have been used as passive props to facilitate training. More recently, greater emphasis has been given to a more active form of patient involvement but the application in the curriculum of pharmacy has not been conceptualized. Thus, the aim of our study was to implement a workshop involving patients as partners in undergraduate pharmacy educational programme, and to evaluate its impact of on students’ perspectives. METHOD: On a prospective observational study basis, the impact was assessed in terms of relevance, learning outcomes and achievement transfer using the Kirkpatrick training assessment method. In addition, we evaluated social representations of the students before and after the workshop. RESULTS: Ninety-four students attended the sessions. All participants were satisfied and emphasized the relevance of the involvement of patients. Postworkshop scores were significantly improved in both competencies to be acquired. At the end of the workshop, students reported two to three actions to implement in order to meet patients’ expectations, illustrating an intent to transfer learning outcomes in professional context. Interestingly, about patients’ expectations on pharmacist’s role, students’ social representations had evolved significantly after the session. CONCLUSION: These results highlight the positive impact of the innovative workshops and the additive value of patients’ involvement in the pharmacy undergraduate programme.