Social and Emotional Development in a Telehealth-Based Ambulatory Care Skills Course

Abstract

Objective. To determine the impact of telehealth-based simulations on student social and emotional development.

Methods. First year pharmacy students enrolled in a professional skills course were eligible to participate in the study. Before and after the course, students completed the personal-interpersonal competence assessment which codes onto eight subcategories: situation monitoring, inspire others, intimacy, awareness of one’s aptitude, initiative to pursue leadership, empathy, sociability, and awareness of one’s emotions. Students participated in seven telehealth-based simulations. Prior to each simulation, students watched a role-modeling video highlighting social and emotional competence techniques utilized by a pharmacist during a consultation. Students then participated in simulated consultations which occurred in Zoom breakout rooms. Each student completed one consult while a teaching assistant (TA) completed a rubric derived from the personal-interpersonal competence assessment. TAs then provided formative feedback related to the student’s social and emotional competence. At the semester midpoint, students completed a video log reflecting on their social and emotional development. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to analyze the personal-interpersonal competence assessment and TA scores. Qualitative analysis was utilized for the video logs.

Results. At the end of the course, improvement was noted on all factors of the personal-interpersonal competence assessment. TA assessments showed significant improvement over the semester with highest improvement noted on the inspiration and situation monitoring subcategories. On the video log, 80% of students noted improvements in their consideration of others.

Conclusion. These findings suggest value in using role-modeling, telehealth-based simulations, and TA feedback on pharmacy student social and emotional development.