Selecting pharmacy students with appropriate communication skills

American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, Spring 2000 by Jones, Janet, Krass, Ines, Holder, Gerald M, Robinson, Rosalie A

This paper investigates the selection procedures for admission into pharmacy school in order to assess the appropriateness of students' communication skills. The communication skills of a cohort of pharmacy students in their first year of the pharmacy program were studied to explore the value of multiple selection procedures for the process of admission to pharmacy school. A short interview, a multiple choice test which measures verbal and quantitative abilities, and a written task which rates students on their academic communication skills were compared. Based on the extensive correlations found between these measures, and the professional practice requirements, arguments are presented for the greater use of such tests in determining which applicants to admit to pharmacy school.

INTRODUCTION

Selection procedures for pharmacy students in English speaking countries differ in the degree of emphasis placed on skills in communication and general academic ability. There are many studies in the literature on the procedures for selection of students into all health professional courses including pharmacy(1-4). Possibly more important than prior academic achievement in the selection paradigm, is the recognition of those qualities which are deemed to be essential for the best professional practice(5). While such qualities as moral reasoning, empathy and the capacity to cope with uncertainty may be more difficult to measure with psychometric tests, it is relatively easy to assess the communication skills of health professional degree applicants. This may be done by the use of instruments which require reading comprehension and information processing skills and by the use of an interview(6). Although there are general papers in the literature on admission methods, there is, to our knowledge, nothing that indicates how the various parameters in a selection algorithm are coordinated to choose applicants who are admitted to a pharmacy program.

In the U.S. and Canada, pharmacy programs lead to the BS in Pharmacy or the PharmD Some colleges require one, two or three years of pre-pharmacy education before entry, while others integrate the essential curriculum with study in the professional college(7). English courses are listed among the prepharmacy requirements by the vast majority of the 81 U.S. pharmacy schools or colleges, and frequently speech courses are listed as well. A survey reported in 1994 that the average semester credit requirement for English and speech courses was 9.0 which was about 12 percent of the total credit requirements(8). The Pharmacy College Admission Test (PCAT) is included in selection criteria by 43 schools, 33 schools require an interview and a further 11 use the interview as an option(7). Of the five separate areas scored in the new PCAT (since 1993), communication skills are measured by two criteria: reading comprehension and verbal abilities. There is a clear intention of U.S, schools to guarantee good written and verbal skills(9).

Acceptance into college to study pharmacy is at the undergraduate level in Australia and the U.K., and requires a high grade in the final high school exit examinations. If entry is from previous study at University, a superior academic record is needed. In contrast to the U.S., Australia and the U.K. place little emphasis on English or communication skills apart from the contributions these make to each applicant's final high school exit score in Australia, and to the English requirements in the first four years of high school (O-levels) in the U.K. The selection procedures used in Australia and the U.K. virtually ignore the essential requirements for communication abilities, which are then further developed in pharmacy programs and necessary for the best practice of the pharmacy profession(912).

Some communication problems among students have been noted informally in the final year of the pharmacy program in the U.S.(13) and among graduates by Australian registration authorities during licensure reviews.2 One survey of preceptors and externs noted weaknesses or deficiencies in this area(14).

It is therefore important to have some measure of communication skills at course entry to screen for minimum competency. This may be achievable by the use, for example, of the PCAT parameters which measure verbal skills and reading comprehension, or with other tests which achieve this. For the prediction of year one GPA, the PCAT reading comprehension and verbal scores were found to be significant in some studies summarized by Cunny and Perri(15). As well, the reading comprehension score of the PCAT was the strongest predictor of first professional pharmacy year GPA for Black and Asian pharmacy students(16). In Australia, the importance of communication skills was shown in an examination of cohorts of entering pharmacy students in which poor written communication skills was correlated with failure to graduate in minimum time(17).

There may well be value in the use of a range of procedures to determine the appropriateness of students' communication skills in the selection process, as the information gained can be used as a starting point for building up an accurate profile of the skill base of an entering cohort. Once the students have commenced the course, this profile can be further enhanced by the addition of information gathered from diagnostic measures of these skills and course assessment. This information can be useful for teaching staff to help them tailor the curriculum to students' needs and monitor student progress(18).