Use of a fictitious community-based virtual teaching platform to aid in the teaching of pharmacy practice skills: Student perspectives after initial implementation

摘要

BackgroundProviding patient-centred care requires pharmacy students to learn how to interact effectively and understand individual differences that can influence patients’ health. The School of Pharmacy at The University of Auckland, New Zealand (NZ), developed a virtual teaching platform, called NZ Pharmville, which consisted of twenty-one community-based patients who are members of six families; each family had a video vignette associated with it. Bachelor of Pharmacy (BPharm) students, enrolled in the third year pharmacy practice course, were able to view these recorded vignettes as part of their weekly pre-laboratory work for the course. All the clinical cases within the course were based on this community, with the aim of increasing the realism in the practical sessions and increasing patient-centred learning. This study aimed to explore the perspectives of pharmacy students regarding the integration of this virtual community into a third year undergraduate pharmacy practice course.