Pharmacy Practice Experiences: A Student's Handbook.
Year: 2009
Type: book-review
Abstract: Pharmacy Practice Experiences: A Student's Handbook is a pocket-size book written to be pharmacy students' guide through their pharmacy practice experiences (PPE) and into their careers. This first edition book is written by Paul J. Stelak, who states in the introduction that the book covers topics not covered in depth in pharmacy school. The book contains 17 short chapters and 7 varied appendices.
The first 10 chapters introduce 10 topics, varying from history of pharmacy to therapeutic monitoring and modification, and the last 7 chapters describe 7 PPE settings. The appendices provide more depth about a few specific topics, from units of measure and conversions to anemia. While the introductory nature of the book makes this an appropriate assignment for students beginning their Introductory PPEs (IPPE), the content probably would not be necessary to keep for daily reference or for Advanced PPEs (APPE). For example, the first 2 chapters, “History of the Pharmacy Profession” and “Ethics and Practice Standards,” are quick and easy-to-read background material but are not likely necessary for daily reference. The next 2 chapters, “Time Management” and “Communication Skills,” also provide an encouraging overview for PPEs. The content, however, is again not presented as material for daily reference and is limited to the author's opinion. Specifically, the hierarchy system section outlined common titles and roles, which are much more varied and complex across pharmacy practice. This section also depicted a medical team hierarchy with the pharmacist assigned to the fourth tier, answering to the residents, and with pharmacy students at the bottom rank, answering to medical students. Most clinical pharmacists recognize a parallel hierarchy of the pharmacy team within the medical team. The next 3 chapters introduce some PPE activities, including “Presentation Skills,” “Drug Literature Evaluation,” and “SOAP Notes.” These again provide an encouraging overview but do not serve as a tool to complete these assignments as other similar PPE Handbooks provide. Notably absent from this introductory format are suggested references for additional reading on specific topics. For example, the “Drug Literature Evaluation” chapter describes in 4 pages how to evaluate a research study without any reference to any evidence-based practice publications or resources. The final 3 chapters of these introductory topics provide expected PPE handbook-type material with references for “Physical Assessment,” “Clinical Laboratory and Procedural Data,” and “Therapeutic Monitoring and Modification.” Once a student progresses into APPEs, this content is more commonly referenced in other tertiary or site-specific resources.
The 7 PPE chapters cover the “Community Hospital,” “Chronic/Long-Term Care,” “Ambulatory/Acute Care,” “Advanced Clinical,” “Business/Management,” and “Elective/Miscellaneous” settings. To the beginning IPPE student, this could serve as an orientation to these practices; however, the content and organization is the author's perspective of the scope of practice, which may not be universally applicable. For example, grouping acute care into an ambulatory care chapter does not provide any description of pharmacy's role in clinical inpatient settings, a required PPE component. The “Advanced Clinical” chapter details 7 intensive care specialty units, in addition to 5 subspecialty disciplines, which are not available in all institutions. This concise orientation may be appropriate for beginning IPPE students but is not relevant for daily reference or APPEs.
The appendices delve into a wide variety of topics with a depth of specifics. The helpful algorithms may be clinically useful but are neither referenced nor organized into a user-friendly format. Content at this depth of practice is more reliably referenced in other references.
Overall, the book might serve as an appropriate reading assignment early in the curriculum. However, other PPE textbooks accomplish this while also serving as a practical reference for application throughout IPPEs and APPEs. Further, the content transitions without focus from the introductory material in the beginning to the specific algorithms in the appendices. While the content does not seem to support the stated purpose of the book, the concise design is appealing for an early IPPE reading assignment.
Source: PubMed Central
Author: Kimi S. Vesta
Language: English
Subfield: Pharmacy
Field: Health Professions
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W37178309