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THE INFLUENCE OF CLINICAL TRAINING ON SELF-ASSESSED COMPETENCE IN COMMUNITY
PHARMACISTS
Laaksonen R, Mills R, Bates I, Duggan C, Davies G, Mackie C
School of Pharmacy, 29/39 Brunswick Square, London WC1N 1AX, UK
raisa.laaksonen@ulsop.ac.uk
Background
In the UK, a new contract for community pharmacy was introduced in
2005 followed by mandatory CPD participation to be implemented in 2006.
The ability to self-assess competence is essential for updating skills,
undertaking a competency based assessment to provide advanced services
and engaging in CPD. A group of community pharmacists was trained to deliver
clinical medication reviews with a Certificate-level distance learning
course in therapeutics. This study investigated the effect of this training
on their self-assessed competence.
Methods
A competency framework has been developed to facilitate the development
of pharmacists in hospital pharmacy1,2. This framework has been adapted
for community pharmacy to encompass the competencies required for advanced
services; a questionnaire has been designed3. Pharmacists were asked to
state how often (always, usually, sometimes and never) they felt they
showed the behaviour described in the statements. The questionnaire was
distributed to all (n = 179) community pharmacists working across four
London PCTs. The intervention group (n = 37) had completed the training
to provide a medication review service in two of the PCTs.
Results
| Altogether 90 pharmacists responded. The
mean scores in the four competency clusters were all within the usually
response, indicating they had some learning needs. Whilst the mean
scores for each competency cluster were lower in the intervention
group, the differences were not statistically significant. Pharmacists
who held a post-graduate qualification assessed themselves to be more
competent in 'patient consultation' (Mann-Whitney z=1.972, p=0.049)
and 'evaluation of outcomes' (Mann-Whitney z=2.307, p=0.020) competencies,
pertaining to 'delivery of patient care cluster', essential for providing
clinical medication reviews and medicines use reviews (Figure 1). |
Figure 1. 'Delivery of patient care cluster' scores. |
 |
Conclusions
Clinical training did not seem to enhance the self-assessed competence
of the pharmacists in the intervention group; pharmacists may need more
support with putting their learning into practice. The "intervention"
of clinical training may have made these pharmacists more aware of what
they did not know, resulting in lower self-assessed competency scores.
A lack of mentorship or feedback on performance may result in not being
able to self-assess competence which may in turn lead to not maintaining
and attaining competence. If pharmacists are to provide high quality services,
this need for support must be addressed.
References
1. McRobbie, Webb, DG, Bates I, Wright J, Davies JG. Assessment of clinical
competence: designing a competence grid for junior pharmacists. Pharm
Ed 2001; 1:67-76.
2. Webb DG, Davies JG, Bates I, McRobbie, Antoniou DS, Wright J. Competency
framework improves the clinical practice of junior hospital pharmacists:
interim results of the south of England trial. Int J Pharm Pract 2003;
11(suppl): R91.
3. Mills ER, Bates I, Davies JG, Lyall H. A pilot study to evaluate professional
and clinical competence in a community pharmacy setting. Pharm World Sci
200; 26: A31-32.
Presented at the HSRPP Conference 2006, Bath
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