Pilot Evaluation of Generation Rx Ambassadors Virtual Training to Prepare Students for Medication Safety Outreach

Abstract

Objective. To describe the creation of a virtual training program (Generation Rx Ambassadors) and evaluate a pilot offering’s impact on knowledge and perceived abilities in delivering Generation Rx medication safety outreach.

Methods. Generation Rx (GenRx) is a prevention education program used by student pharmacists to teach safe medication practices in the community. Generation Rx Ambassadors, an asynchronous virtual course, was developed to train facilitators toward best-practice GenRx delivery. The training was piloted in a mixed student cohort and evaluated using a pre-/post-program survey assessing participants’ objective knowledge gains and self-perceived abilities to appropriately deliver GenRx education.

Results. Fifty-two health sciences undergraduate, graduate, and professional pharmacy (PharmD) students completed the pilot offering of Ambassadors. Regardless of degree status or discipline, participants demonstrated significant knowledge gains for all outcomes except defining medication misuse behaviors (for which there was initial strong mastery). Prior to Ambassadors training, many participants indicated a perceived ability to effectively deliver GenRx education; however, corresponding objective knowledge assessment did not support this belief. Training through the Ambassadors program appropriately aligned participants’ perceived abilities with actual content knowledge for most program learning outcomes.

Conclusion. These pilot findings suggest that Ambassadors is an effective training tool toward best-practice GenRx delivery. More generally, this work reiterates a need to formally train student pharmacists ahead of community outreach activities, particularly in the prevention education arena. Future evaluation will focus on replicating this study with an expanded cohort size and assessing Ambassadors’ ability to deliver GenRx education in community-based settings.