Pharmaceutical care preceptor training and assessment in community pharmacy clerkship sites

This training model used self-study, home-based therapeutics instruction and a clerkship strategy to train rural community pharmacy preceptors in pharmaceutical care (PC). Specific aims were to: (i) provide intensive instruction in clinical and managerial aspects of setting up a PC model in a rural community pharmacy setting, and (ii) assess effectiveness of the instruction through post-training assessment of PC activities. Through this training, ten rural community pharmacy externship sites are being converted to PC sites that can support experiential training. Following a therapeutics course of study, faculty members conducted a case-study review for primary care disease states tie., diabetes, hypertension and asthma) and patient assessment skills were demonstrated and practiced. Preceptors enhanced their skills in documenting patient interventions and computer usage. Preceptors toured two rural community pharmacies with ongoing PC programs with an accompanying interactive session. Action plans (business plans) were presented on the last day of training, revised and submitted by each preceptor. Each preceptor was mailed a follow-up survey at 18 months post-training. All ten preceptors completed the survey. Three of ten preceptors directly charge patients for PC. "Time" followed by "lack of reimbursement" was rated the most problematic obstacles in implementing PC into their practice. Areas of the program rated most favorably by preceptors were the therapeutic reviews, case presentations, and monitoring techniques. Most have implemented some component of the training, although each preceptor stated they were at an early stage. As pharmacy schools struggle to integrate PC into their experiential training, this project provides a model that can be transferred to other colleges/schools of pharmacy.