Clinical Decision Making by Fourth-Year Pharmacy Students: Understanding Their Uncertainty

Charrois, Theresa L.

Clinical Decision Making by Fourth-Year Pharmacy Students: Understanding Their Uncertainty

dc.contributor.advisor	Sewell, Douglas
dc.contributor.author	Charrois, Theresa L.
dc.contributor.committeemember	Locke, Jennifer
dc.contributor.committeemember	Raffin-Bouchal, Shelley
dc.date	2021-02
dc.date.accessioned	2020-12-21T23:27:28Z
dc.date.available	2020-12-21T23:27:28Z
dc.date.issued	2020-12
dc.description.abstract	Clinical decision making is a critical process underpinning much of a pharmacist’s daily activities. Pharmacists in Alberta have a scope of practice that includes prescribing medications, and prescribing includes clinical decision making. Ensuring pharmacy education actively prepares students for clinical decision making is therefore a priority. While it is known that pharmacists hesitate to make decisions, it remains unclear whether pharmacy students experience similar hesitancy. Clinical decision making is dependent on many factors, such as knowledge and experience, that need to be considered when investigating hesitancy and uncertainty in decision making by pharmacy students. Adult learning theories of experiential education and reflective practice are applicable to the pedagogy of decision making given that experience is considered a critical influencer in clinical decision making. This study was designed from a social constructivist paradigm using case study methodology. The purpose was to investigate issues related to hesitancy in clinical decision making by fourth-year pharmacy students. Data was collected through observation of students engaging in simulations, post-simulation interviews, and written reflections. Data analysis included multiple stages of coding, followed by pattern identification and discovery of interrelationships. The primary themes relating to issues in pharmacy student clinical decision making were relational factors, teaching and learning, degree of certainty, and personal characteristics. These themes represent elements that affected decision making before the final stage where the students were either willing or unwilling to make a decision. Pharmacy students construct their decision making primarily by using the patient care process, through repeated practice, and by observing role models. Students felt facilitated in their decision making when there were positive relationships with patients and physicians, practise in the skills lab, and development of comfort with ambiguity. Students discussed that strategies for responsible decision making were complex and related to many of the previously mentioned themes. Students struggled with responsibility taking for decisions both throughout the curriculum and in experiential education. Future research plans include investigating how Albertan students compare with those in other jurisdictions and investigating the training of preceptors to include building student comfort with ambiguity by creating education underpinned by adult learning theories of experiential learning.	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Charrois, T. L. (2020). Clinical decision making by fourth-year pharmacy students: understanding their uncertainty (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.	en_US
dc.identifier.doi	http://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/38487
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/1880/112893
dc.language.iso	eng	en_US
dc.publisher.faculty	Werklund School of Education	en_US
dc.publisher.institution	University of Calgary	en
dc.rights	University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Education	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Health Sciences	en_US
dc.title	Clinical Decision Making by Fourth-Year Pharmacy Students: Understanding Their Uncertainty	en_US
dc.type	doctoral thesis	en_US
thesis.degree.discipline	Education Graduate Program – Educational Research	en_US
thesis.degree.grantor	University of Calgary	en_US
thesis.degree.name	Doctor of Education (EdD)	en_US
ucalgary.item.requestcopy	true	en_US