Selecting students with personal characteristics relevant to pharmaceutical care

American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, Summer 1999 by Wright, Sandra S, Miederhoff, Patrick A

Verbal Communication Skills. Students were rated on seven items related to their verbal communication skills (e.g., "Paraphrases patient accurately) on a scale ranging from 1 (Needs a lot of improvement) to 5 (Very Good). Cronbach's coefficient alpha was 0.79 for the pharmacists' ratings, 0.77 for the instructors' ratings, and 0.73 for the counseling psychology students' ratings.

Empathy. The pharmacists and psychologists rated the extent to which a list of 24 adjectives related to empathy (e.g., caring) described each student's performance on a scale from 1 (not at all) to 7 (very much). Cronbach's coefficient alpha was 0.95 for the pharmacists' ratings, 0.95 for the instructors' ratings, and 0.96 for the counseling psychology students' ratings.

Expertise. The pharmacists and psychologists rated the extent to which a list of five adjectives related to expertise (e.g., competent) described each student's performance on a scale from 1 (not at all) to 7 (very much). Cronbach's coefficient alpha was 0.93 for the pharmacists' ratings, 0.93 for the instructors' ratings, and 0.92 for the counseling psychology students' ratings.

Likability. The pharmacists and psychologists rated the extent to which a list of five adjectives related to likability (e.g., pleasant) described each student's performance on a scale from 1 (not at all) to 7 (very much). Cronbach's coefficient alpha was 0.95 for the pharmacists' ratings, 0.93 for the instructors' ratings, and 0.96 for the counseling psychology students' ratings.

Trustworthiness. The pharmacists and psychologists rated the extent to which a list of five adjectives related to trustworthiness (e.g., reliable) described each student's performance on a scale from 1 (not at all) to 7 (very much). Cronbach's coefficient alpha was 0.93 for the pharmacists' ratings, 0.92 for the instructors' ratings, and 0.97 for the counseling psychology students' ratings.

Procedure

This research was conducted during the laboratory sessions of a "Communication Skills in Pharmacy" class. Instructors for each class included an advanced PhD student in either counseling or social psychology and a practicing pharmacist who acted as a resource person. Classes ranged in size from 9-12 students. Students completed both the forced-choice self-description inventory and the direct self-description inventory at the beginning of the fall semester. They were asked to turn in their responses for research purposes on a voluntary basis.

Ten weeks after the first day of class, students were videotaped role-playing a pharmacist in a simulated patient-pharmacist interaction. The patient roles were played by the course instructors. Instructors' responses were scripted in order to standardize the scenario as much as possible. For example, if the student addressed the smoking issue, the instructor replied, "I've tried everything and I just can't stop." Scripted responses were developed for all other anticipated questions and comments as well to ensure that the situation was similar for all students. Both the instructor and the practicing pharmacist evaluated the students after the students left the room, immediately following each of the simulated interactions. The week following the videotaped interactions, students viewed the videotapes as a class and critiqued their performances.