Exploring Pharmacy Students’ Readiness for the Transition to Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences from Multiple Perspectives

Abstract

Objective. This study aims to enrich our understanding of Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience (APPE) readiness by exploring the perspectives of three primary stakeholders: APPE students, APPE preceptors, and APPE faculty site directors.

Methods. We conducted a descriptive qualitative study of APPE readiness using workplace learning as a guiding conceptual framework. We collected data between March and September 2019 through semi-structured focus groups and interviews with students (5 groups), preceptors (4 groups), and faculty site directors (1 group, 2 individual interviews). We analyzed these data using directed content analysis.

Results. Participants described APPE readiness as a multifaceted construct comprised of four themes: learner characteristics, participation in workplace activities, relationship-building, and workplace practices to orient and support students. While all participant groups collectively addressed each category, faculty site directors and preceptors tended to focus on learner characteristics, whereas students placed emphasis on their participation in the workplace and relationship-building.

Conclusion. Knowledge is widely recognized as a requirement for APPE readiness. Our study identified learner characteristics, workplace participation, and relational skills as additional requirements. Some of these components are challenging to assess prior to APPEs, which makes orienting both prior to and at the start of APPEs particularly important to support readiness. Thus, a comprehensive view of APPE readiness might also include assessing the readiness of workplaces, administrators, and preceptors for APPE students.