Design of a 15-month interprofessional workplace learning program to expand the added value of clinical pharmacists in primary care

Abstract

Background and purpose: Clinical pharmacists who work in the general practice settings bring an improvement to patient care and outcomes. Postgraduate training for an independent clinical role does not often occur in the primary health care setting. When it does, the design of the curriculum is infrequently based on interprofessional workplace learning principles and it does not always integrate practical experience with classroom-based learning activities. This could lead to situations where clinical pharmacists are insufficiently trained to apply clinical reasoning skills and direct patient care in the general practice setting.

Educational activity and setting: A program was designed, including competencies and learning objectives, based on results from focus group interviews with stakeholders and the literature on interprofessional workplace learning. Ten participants were selected for a pilot run of the program and were asked several times for their opinion about the program.

Findings: A 15-month training program was offered to pharmacists who became clinical pharmacists with the responsibility to perform patient consultations in general practice. The program was based on interprofessional workplace learning principles and facilitated the participants' skill in connecting the evidence, the patients' perspective and their own professional perspective. The 10 participating pharmacists were satisfied with the program.

Discussion and summary: The training program provided increased opportunities to clinical pharmacists to add value in general practice. The training program enabled pharmacists to advance their skills in direct patient care and to improve the alignment between different professionals in the primary care domain.

Keywords: Clinical pharmacists; Direct patient care; General practice; Workplace learning.