Students’ Engagement in Learning Nursing Pharmacotherapeutics: A Self-reported Volunteer Experience

Abstract

Hands-on experiential learning within a clinical setting and the integration and translation of theoretical knowledge to practice have been explored as pedagogical methods to enhance nursing education. This study reports nursing students’ self-assessment of volunteer learning experience at hospitals and community pharmacies to enhance nursing pharmacologic knowledge. The study quantitatively evaluated the self-reported assessment of nursing students at hospital and community pharmacies in Belize using a convenient sampling technique. Forty-six nursing students spent 48 hours at assigned community and hospital pharmacies under the supervision of a licensed pharmacist. Self-assessment questionnaires and the grades from preceptors were analysed and reported. Students described a positive experience with high mean scores indicating self-reported learning of new medications, drug side effects, labelling of drugs, dispensing prescriptions, patients’ assessment, communication and experience working alongside interprofessional healthcare team members. This study shows that undergraduate nursing students can benefit from volunteer learning at community and hospital-based pharmacies to enhance hands-on learning of pharmacotherapeutics knowledge. Daily interactions with pharmacists, medications and patients complemented students’ learning of medications and skills acquisition. Nursing educators should explore nonconventional pedagogical approaches, such as pharmacy clinical sites, to complement students’ pharmacologic learning.