Amanda Eades
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The main barrier to Zoom counseling sessions was students’ lack of familiarity with IT resources and the inevitable IT malfunctions that occur on online platforms. I quickly learned to have a contingency plan in place when the schedule fell behind due to tech issues.
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As coordinator of PHAR411 and PHAR412 (Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experience or IPPE), a main responsibility of mine is to help students develop the communication skills necessary to effectively counsel patients. An integral part of these courses is mock patient counseling sessions. These sessions allow students to practice their patient counseling skills in a low-stakes environment and prepare for their final proficiency exam at the end of the semester. The PHAR411 final proficiency exam assesses students’ ability to counsel on medications, while the PHAR412 final proficiency exam assesses the ability to counsel on medications and to educate patients on using self-monitoring devices, such as a glucometer or a blood pressure machine. To demonstrate competency in their counseling skills and to progress through the program, students must score more than a 70% on these final exams.
When COVID-19 made it impossible to hold in-person counseling sessions, our experiential education team had to quickly come up with an alternative way to assess each student’s competency in patient counseling. Similar to the adaptations made to healthcare as a result of COVID-19, we decided to convert our mock patient counseling sessions to Telehealth experiences. We utilized 4th-year pharmacy students to serve as mock patients for the counseling sessions and supplied each of the “patients” with supplies they would need for the counseling session (e.g. a glucometer, blood pressure monitor, insulin pen, inhaler, etc). Each “patient” had a personal Zoom room, and PHAR411/PHAR412 students would enter the Zoom room when it was their scheduled time to meet with them. PHAR412 students counseled patients on a new medication similar to in-person counseling sessions. Rather than demonstrate the use of self-monitoring devices, they instead talked the patient through the process while the patient completed the task.
The main barrier to Zoom counseling sessions was students’ lack of familiarity with IT resources and the inevitable IT malfunctions that occur on online platforms. I quickly learned to have a contingency plan in place when the schedule fell behind due to tech issues. To address the problem, I recruited extra patients who did not have any scheduled counseling sessions. If a counseling room fell behind, I would start routing students to one of these extra rooms. Since making this change, we have been able to remain on schedule. Ultimately, this transition to Telehealth counseling has provided students an opportunity to continue developing their patient counseling skills and to help prepare them for recent changes in the world of healthcare.
Amanda Eades
Clinical Assistant Professor/Clinical Pharmacist
Department of Pharmacy