Background: Having acute care nursing practicums that integrate pharmacist faculty is a potential way to bridge the gap between pharmacology didactic content and clinical application. Method: Three pharmacist faculty members joined nursing students in acute care practicums where students reviewed their patients collaboratively, focusing on disease states and medications taught in pathopharmacology didactic courses. Both the nursing students and the practicum faculty were surveyed regarding their satisfaction with the pharmacist's participation and their perceived effect. Results: Six practicum faculty and 79 nursing students participated; 82 survey responses were completed. Student satisfaction with pharmacist participation (92%), connection of content (98%) and exam score effect (98%) was overwhelmingly positive. Practicum faculty had 100% satisfaction scores. Conclusion: Based on student satisfaction survey results, this study reveals that pharmacist faculty participating in nursing practicums can provide benefits to student understanding of didactic content, bridging the gap between classrooms and clinical settings.
Whelpley et al. (Mon,) studied this question.