(1087) Assessing the Impact of a Skills Workshop on Student Confidence and Knowledge Regarding Pharmacist Furnishing of Hormonal Contraception

Objectives:

Background: Pharmacists play a significant role in healthcare by providing patients with convenient, accessible, and comprehensive services such as guidance on hormonal contraception. Data from 2015-2019 shows that 35% of pregnancies in women aged 15 to 49 were unintended. Expanding pharmacists' scope of practice so they may not only dispense but also prescribe contraceptives is an important step to increasing access to critical family-planning services. At present, 29 states and Washington, D.C., allow pharmacists to prescribe hormonal contraceptives through a statewide protocol, standing order, or collaborative practice agreement (CPA). Despite this expanded scope, a limited number of pharmacies currently offer these services. One study, which surveyed 823 pharmacists across the United States, showed only 58% felt they had adequate training to prescribe hormonal contraception. Areas in which pharmacists felt least confident included awareness of the CDC US Medical Eligibility Criteria for Contraceptive Use, selecting and switching products, and prescribing for special populations like adolescents. Preferred training methods included live training (less than four hours), webinars, and self-study programs. Another study evaluated hormonal contraception curricula across the United States. Of the 56 pharmacy programs that responded, most taught the topic through use of didactic lecture content and patient cases. Most programs agreed they had an interest in offering a standardized curriculum for contraceptive education. One prior study showed positive changes in student pharmacist confidence and perceived preparedness using a simulation activity. There is, however, little information available on the impact of other teaching modalities such as interactive skills workshops. Further study is warranted to explore alternative strategies which promote preparation of confident and knowledgeable pharmacists ready to independently prescribe hormonal contraceptive products.


Objectives: The primary objective of this study is to assess the impact of an interactive workshop on student pharmacists' confidence in prescribing hormonal contraceptive products. The secondary objective of this study is to assess the impact on student pharmacist knowledge regarding hormonal contraceptive prescribing.

Methods:

Methods: Second year students pharmacists will participate in a lecture-based session on contraception during the endocrinology therapeutics module. This will be followed by a multi-station, interactive workshop two weeks later. The various stations in the workshop cover topics including clinical knowledge and prescribing challenges, state laws and protocols regarding pharmacist contraceptive services, application of practice guidelines and resources, product selection, initiation, and switching, side-effect management, and patient education. A pre-survey will be administered immediately prior to the workshop, and a post-survey will be administered about two weeks after workshop completion. The survey will consist of three sections, including demographics to better understand the students’ prior experience with this topic, self-rating of statements pertaining to confidence pre- and post-intervention, and knowledge-based questions. Descriptive statistics will be used to assess differences and evaluate the impact of the workshop intervention.

Results: N/A (Research in progress)

Conclusions: N/A (Research in progress)