While professional community pharmacy practice training has been long incorporated into the curriculum at many pharmacy schools and health institutions (16, 17), the concept of virtual professional pharmacy training is still a relatively new concept for some Jordanian pharmacy schools. Moreover, due to the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic, all virtual pharmacy training has been regarded as a logical training option for sustaining pharmacy education and skills. Additionally, there are variations across pharmacy schools, nationally and internationally, who commence such type of professional virtual training in terms of content and delivery with some tailored to the competency standards or context where such program is located (18–20).
This descriptive cross-sectional study aimed to explore senior pharmacy students’ perceptions of the value and relevance of the virtual-based pharmacy training targeting community pharmacy competencies during the COVID-19 pandemic and the influence of different variables on their perception. Additionally, this study identified the extent to which they agree with suggestions to enhance the quality of virtual-based pharmacy training from their own perspectives.
Findings from this study show that during a virtual-based pharmacy training module, preceptors positively influence their students through acknowledgment of their role as training students, integration of therapy knowledge into patient care, and assistance to achieve objectives of such training. Relatively similar, pharmacy students denied the interference of preceptors with their learning in a previous study by Darr et. al. involving a virtual training course (21). Nevertheless, the application of interesting learning activities by preceptors of virtual-based pharmacy training was regarded deficient by the students.
A study by Lucas et. al. described better student learning and confidence levels before advancing to their pharmacy placements as a result of participating in a virtual pharmacy program (22), while Ambroziak et. al. described better students’ self-identification of practice required to gain pharmacy dispensing skills after engaging in a virtual pharmacy course activity (23), such benefits are particularly appreciated by pharmacy students participating in our study who expressed positive perception toward some suggested benefits of a virtual-based pharmacy training module in terms of increasing their involvement with the pharmacy profession, the achievement of proficiency in training topics, knowledge of medications prior real patient exposure, improvement of self-directed learning skills, improvement of Information Technology (IT) skills, and efficient information searching skills. Basheti et. al. emphasized on the importance of real patient simulation training toward mastering several skills among pharmacy students (24), which explains the insufficient perception of suggested benefits by our participants in this study, particularly ones related to the development of social skills, critical thinking, and lifelong learning skills of the experiential learning cycle.
The sense of agency is defined as “the sense that I am the one who is causing or generating an action” (25). The sense of agency is of utmost value when it comes to controlling an external device, as it will influence its technology effect, and thus influencing people’s commitment and performance toward that task (26). Participants in this study identified a prominent barrier of the virtual-based pharmacy training being the absence of eye contact, which is of particular relation to the sense of agency (27) while the other five suggested barriers were less appreciated in terms of majority, though they might be still valid for future discussion including, in descending perception, lack of quiet place, technical support, and time.
A previous study by Abu Farha et. al. described recorded video tutorials as being effective supportive tools for pharmacy education (28), though using them solely might not be as effective, making a blended learning style more comprehensive (29). Pharmacy students in this study expressed expected higher levels of agreement with mainly two suggested solutions for a better quality of virtual-based pharmacy training module, which included combining virtual-based training with conventional ones, and inclusion of interactive live sessions with their preceptors rather than recorded ones.
Limitations of this study include the involvement of an online Google® survey that is subject to security breaches yet protected by a password that is regarded as safe and only accessible by the research team. Moreover, an online survey instead of a face-to-face meeting poses reliability and authenticity risk to the study data, nevertheless the link to this online survey was only shared among a carefully picked student group through our educational platforms (Microsoft teams) meeting the inclusion criteria of this study. Considering the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the use of an online survey was the best approach to align with the physical and social distancing measures. Other alternative and better authentic methods could have been carried out (like institutional emails) but reduced engagement with students was a major concern, as they might not often log-in to their emails. Data representation of this study population might pose a limitation since only one cohort of pharmacy students was used from one institution who were involved in a unique program to that institution, as students’ perceptions from other universities or schools may differ. As well, the lack of a control group for the study who did not receive the virtual training was one of the most important limitations.