Abstract
The six-year curriculum for students in pharmaceutical science programs was initiated in 2006 in Japan but the methods used for training pharmacy school students in hospital pharmacy services still need to be improved.
Patients may suffer discomfort under any type of pharmacotherapy and pharmacists often have to play an important role in helping patients to avoid such discomfort.The Japanese Society of Hospital Pharmacists has applied the term“preavoid”to avoidance actions taken by pharmacists in this respect.In this connection,a new type of training called“pre-avoid training”has been tried out on pharmacy school students.In it,students learn the“pre-avoid duties”of clinical pharmacists through small group discussion.Cases discussed are based on actual“pre-avoid”cases at Ehime University Hospital.
The training program consists of the following : explanation of the training procedure,presentation of cases one week before the small group discussion (SGD),self study of the cases for 2 weeks and then the discussion to identify the problems encountered in each case and solve them.Students conduct the SGD by themselves with pharmacists in attendance as facilitators and observers.
After the training,an anonymous survey was conducted so that students could evaluate the training procedure.Most of them considered it to be useful because it enabled them to gain a better understanding of pharmacotherapy as well as the detailed duties of the clinical pharmacist,and also helped them to improve their communication skills with respect to other medical staff.We consider that the program is a simple practical way for students to receive“pre-avoid”training from pharmacists at the site where it is practiced.
