Does curriculum reform influence perceived preparedness for practice of graduates of Manchester Pharmacy School? A comparison of two cohorts.

Abstract

Background: Using the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC)'s pre-registration pharmacist trainee performance standards, this study explored the effect of curricular reform on preparedness for practice (PFP) of Master of Pharmacy (MPharm) graduates, prior to commencing their yearlong pre-registration training. MPharm graduates from one UK pharmacy school, graduating in 2014 (pre-curricular reform) and 2015 (post-curricular reform), completed a questionnaire, which explored perceptions of the extent to which the degree programme had prepared them for practice. Methods: Preparedness was investigated using the GPhC's 76 performance standards, grouped into three domains of practice; professional activity (1), interpersonal skills (2) and ability to provide an effective pharmaceutical service (3). Respondents were asked to (dis)agree with each performance standard using a 5-point Likert scale (using 5=strongly agree; 1=strongly disagree). An overall preparedness score was formulated. An independent-samples t-test was conducted to explore the differences between the two cohorts and the effect size was calculated. A standard multiple regression analysis was conducted to analyse how much of the variance in the total PFP score, could be explained by; year of graduation, gender, ethnicity, previous work experience and pre-registration training sector. The university's ethics committee approved the study. Results: For each domain of practice, the mean preparedness score was higher for respondents graduating in 2015, and the magnitude of the differences was large. There was significant difference in preparedness scores related to domain 1 for 2014 (M = 3.75, SD = 0.53) and 2015 respondents (M = 4.27, SD=0.40; t (98) = -5.503, p =

Date of Award	1 Aug 2016
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The University of Manchester
Supervisor	Ellen Schafheutle (Supervisor), Sarah Willis (Supervisor) & Victoria Silkstone (Supervisor)