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Evaluation of preceptors and skills achievement by clinical pharmacy clerkship students during their clinical rotations at University of Gondar, Ethiopia

Authors Belachew S, Abegaz TM, Bhagavathula A , Tegegn H , tefera YG 

Received 5 September 2015

Accepted for publication 7 February 2016

Published 29 March 2016 Volume 2016:7 Pages 187—196

DOI https://doi.org/10.2147/AMEP.S95820

Checked for plagiarism Yes

Review by Single anonymous peer review

Peer reviewer comments 3

Editor who approved publication: Dr Md Anwarul Azim Majumder



Video abstract presented by Sewunet Admasu

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Sewunet Admasu Belachew, Tadesse Melaku Abegaz, Akshaya Srikanth Bhagavathula, Henok Getachew, Yonas Getaya Tefera

Clinical Pharmacy Department, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia

Aim: To investigate the overall experiences of clinical pharmacy students during their clinical
attachments and to understand the breadth and depth of clinical skills provided by their preceptors.
Methods: A cross-sectional study using a self-administered questionnaire containing 34 items
to obtain feedback from the clerkship students from June to July 2015. Data analysis was performed
to calculate mean, standard deviation, percentages, and multiple logistic regression using
Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software Version 22. Statistical significance
was set at P<0.01.
Results: All 58 clerkship students actively participated in the study, yielding a response rate
of 100%. While students ranked their clerkship experience as moderate, >15% remarked that
they did not receive enough opportunities to hone their pharmaceutical care documentation
skills. A relatively high percentage of students (32.8%) strongly agreed that their preceptors had
provided ample opportunity to discuss the patient problems at the bedside and encouraged them
to express their opinions regarding patients’ drug therapeutic issues. This study also revealed
that students’ continuity in developing their therapeutic and disease process knowledge was
significantly associated with the preceptor’s ability to provide adequate training and orientation
(P =0.01), engagement in clinical pharmacy activities (P =0.01), regular review of students’ work
(P =0.01), and instruction to students before entering clinical sites (P =0.00).
Conclusion: The findings of this study reveal that a majority of the students were moderately
satisfied with the clinical training program and preceptors need to demonstrate effective pharmaceutical care processes in their clinical sites.


Keywords: pharmaceutical care, training, clinical skills

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