Document Type

Capstone Enhancement

Publication Date

Spring 2020

Abstract

A research study completed by Kritikos et al. investigated student pharmacists and their characteristics in order to find a relationship with their views of research and attitudes towards pharmacy practice research. The study also recognized perceived barriers to pursuing or completing pharmacy practice research and identified ways that pharmacy educators could promote research interest in pharmacy practice. The research study concluded that student pharmacists perceive a lack of awareness of the needs, benefits, and career opportunities associated with pharmacy practice research. In addition, the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) mentions in section 6.3 of the 2016 Standards that PharmD program’s commitment to research is a component that is evaluated.

In order to help fill the gap of student pharmacist perceptions and help fulfil section 6.3 of the 2016 ACPE Standards, a research roundtable event was held at the Ohio Northern University (ONU) Rudolph H. Raabe College of Pharmacy by the American Pharmacists Association Academy of Student Pharmacists. ONU’s PharmD program is a 0-6 direct admit program within a private institution that contains 819 student pharmacists with 669 student pharmacists residing on campus. The event was held at ONU’s ballroom in a central location on campus. All pharmacy practice and science faculty members and their student research assistants were invited via email to host a table in the roundtable event while student pharmacists from all graduating classes were invited via email to participate in the roundtable event and informed of all the different faculty member research areas. The roundtable event was conducted with faculty members (n=10), student research assistants (n=12), and student pharmacists (n=89). One faculty member and all their research assistants were placed at one table each. Student pharmacists attended three tables out of the ten tables of their choice where they spent twelve minutes at each table with three additional minutes allotted for transitioning between tables. The last fifteen minutes of the event were left as an open session in order to allow student pharmacists to approach faculty members and student research assistants in order to gain more information, ask questions, or talk to a professor they did not get the chance to sit with during the roundtable event. At the end of the event, feedback surveys were given to all faculty, student research assistants, and student pharmacist attendees in order to gauge thoughts on the setup and effectiveness of the event. Then, three outcomes were measured after the event in order to document the success of the event. The number of students who contacted a faculty member after the event (24.7%), the number of students who began new research with a faculty member after the event (4.49%), and the number of students who planned to begin new research with a faculty member (6.74%) were the three outcomes measured.

Overall, it can be concluded that holding the research roundtable event allowed for students to have the opportunity to learn more about pharmacy research practice and science opportunities. The event also lead to some student pharmacists to inquire about, plan, and even begin new pharmacy research projects with faculty members and their student research assistants at Ohio Northern University’s Raabe College of Pharmacy.

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