Peer Teaching: A Qualitative Comparison between Medical and Pharmacy Trainees

Abstracts / Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy 10 (2014) e1–e64 Methods: A subset of data gathered during telephone survey interviews as part of a clustered RCT were used for the current study. Comparisons were made between the three groups described above, for the results on validated scales (Hospital Anxiety & Depression Scale, Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaires, Morisky Medication Adherence Scale, Satisfaction With Therapy, Feelings about Side Effects), obtained at two time points (three days and one month after delivery of an antidepressant). Kruskal-Wallis tests and Mann-Whitney Utests were carried out on continuous variables. Categorical demographic variables were analyzed by Chi-Square or Fisher exact tests. Results: No significant differences were found between non-initiators, discontinuers or continuers on different demographic variables or on the HADS depression scale at the start of treatment. Significantly more patients who continued treatment for at least 6 months believed in the necessity of antidepressants at the start of treatment (p¼0.008), compared to the non-initiators. After one month of treatment, significantly more continuers were adherent (p!0.001), satisfied with their antidepressant treatment (p!0.001), had positive feelings about side effects (p!0.001) and believed in the necessity of antidepressants (p!0.001), compared to early discontinuers. Furthermore, significantly less continuers expressed concerns about negative effects of antidepressants (p¼0.010) and harmfulness of medication (p¼ 0.033) compared to early discontinuers. Conclusion: The results highlight the importance of patients’ beliefs and feelings concerning antidepressants and medication in general. Patients who continued their treatment with antidepressants for the recommended period of 6 months were not only more adherent, they expressed also less concerns and showed more positive feelings and satisfaction towards antidepressants. Peer Teaching: A Qualitative Comparison between Medical and Pharmacy Trainees M. Battistella1,2, D. Tankala1, A. Austin1, 1Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, Toronto, Ontario Canada, 2The University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada The primary objective of this study was to compare peer teaching in a medical clinical teaching unit (CTU) and a pharmacy CTU. The second objective was to provide suggestions for future research in pharmacy peer teaching. Methods: This was an exploratory observational study that utilized ethnographic methodology for data collection and analysis. Observations were collected in a large downtown teaching hospital. This observer spent an average of 4-6 hours per day observing a team of medical trainees from the Faculty of Medicine completing their rotation in the general internal medicine (GIM) unit for two weeks, followed by a team of pharmacy trainees in an ambulatory hemodialysis (HD) unit for two weeks. Data was collected through field

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notes, plus, informal interviews that were audiotaped and subsequently transcribed. Data was interpreted by the observer and was reviewed every week with two impartial pharmacists. Results: Observations seen with the medical trainees was compared to the observations seen with pharmacy trainees and six major themes emerged. 1) Influence of interaction of peer teaching hierarchy. 2) Education distance between peer learners and teachers. 3) Effect of the CTU size on peer learning. 4) Peer learners’ dependence on the CTU attending. 5) Trainees’ perception on their teaching role in the CTU and 6) Influence of daily schedule and workload on peer teaching. Compared to pharmacy, a clear hierarchy and pyramidal structure of peer teaching was observed in medicine. While this works well in medicine, peer teaching still occurred in pharmacy with and without a hierarchy. Conclusion: Through comparisons of a medical and pharmacy CTU, this study has provided guidance to pharmacy preceptors who wish to implement peer teaching models in their practice. Future studies in this area should assess learning outcomes and participant satisfaction, preceptor workload and impact on patient care. Perceptions and Barriers towards English Language Proficiency among Pharmacy Undergraduates at Universiti Sains Malaysia Z.S. Ibrahim1, M.A. Hassali2, F. Saleem2, H. Aljadhey3, 1 School of Languages, Literacy and Translation, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia, 2School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia, 3College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia The study aims to evaluate perceptions and barriers towards English language proficiency among pharmacy undergraduates at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). Methods: This study was designed as a questionnaire based, cross sectional survey. All pharmacy undergraduates enrolled at the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, UMS were targeted for the study. In addition to the demographic information, the association among study variables was observed by using Chi-Square/Fischer Exact test. The significant associations were further analyzed for the strength and direction by using phi/ Cramer constant (4c). P value less than 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results: Out of 542 enrolled students, 445 participated in the survey with a response rate of 82.1%. Three hundred and twenty (71.9%) were females while 238 belonged to the Malay ethnicity. Majority of the respondents (n¼377, 84.7%) entered pharmacy program following the completion of government matriculation program. Subsequently, a total of 54 respondents (12.1%) entered the pharmacy program following their STPM while 14 respondents (3.2%) entered the program via other preuniversity qualifications. Two hundred and thirty two