Concerns and Challenges in Pharmacy Education: Mind the Gaps

Pharmacy college is the primary setting where students could and should take advantage of the opportunity to develop their personal and professional attributes. It is also the place that will assist students in shaping their future as a healthcare professional. Pharmacists should acquire these competencies when they are in college: providing patient-centered care, working in interprofessional teams, employing evidence-based practice, applying quality improvement, and using informatics. There are great challenges expected ahead with the complex healthcare system of today and in the future. We need pharmacy graduates with a special set of skills, knowledge, and competencies that fit with future needs and expectations. We need effective, competent, and experienced leaders and educators in the education sector. We need leaders who have divergent thinking and could lead in the present moment, keep in line with changes in pharmacy, read the future, and and stay relevant

Clusters of competence : Relationship between self-reported professional competence and achievement on a national examination among graduating nursing students

Aims To identify clusters based on graduating nursing students' self-reported professional competence and their achievement on a national examination. Furthermore, to describe and compare the identified clusters regarding sample characteristics, students' perceptions of overall quality of the nursing programme, and students' general self-efficacy (GSE). Design A cross-sectional study combining survey data and results from a national examination. Methods Data were collected at two universities and one university college in Sweden in January 2017, including 179 students in the final term of the nursing programme. The study was based on the Nurse Professional Competence Scale, the GSE scale, and results from the National Clinical Final Examination. A two-step cluster analysis was used to identify competence profiles, followed by comparative analyses between clusters. Results Three clusters were identified illustrating students' different competence profiles. Students in Clusters 1 and 2 passed the examination, but differed in their self-assessments of competence, rating themselves under and above the overall median value, respectively. Students in Cluster 3 failed the examination but rated themselves at the overall median level or higher. Conclusion The study illustrates how nursing students' self-assessed competence might differ from competency assessed by examination, which is challenging for nursing education. Self-evaluation is a key learning outcome and is, in the long run, essential to patient safety. Impact The study has identified clusters of students where some overestimate and others underestimate their competence. Students who assessed their competence low but passed the exam assessed their GSE lower than other students. The findings illuminate the need for student-centred strategies in nursing education, including elements of self-assessment in relation to examination to make the students more aware of their clinical competence