In response to the Ministry of Education's order to convert all PSAU's curriculums from semester to quarter-term systems, the experiential training committee modified both the PHTR 301 and 401 courses to become PHTR 341 and 441 courses. Therefore, as a quarter-term institution, PSAU offers six-week summer terms. In each training course, a student must complete 180 hours of training during summer-term, consisting of six hours a day, five days a week. In addition, the committee developed and adopted learning outcomes and course specifications for both courses in order to comply with the updated changes. The College council approved and adopted all changes.
There are now more representatives of the clinical pharmacy department on the committee. A total of nine members makes up the committee, including three representatives from the clinical pharmacy department, one member as a student representative, the Vice-Dean for female affairs, and one representative from each of the remaining departments.
The committee updated the Preceptor Manual and provided all necessary information. Also, the manual was prepared according to the Quarter term system and will be distributed to preceptors involved in training programs during the summer of 2022-2023.
Enhancements were made to the selection criteria for preceptors and sites. It is required for a pharmacist to meet the following conditions to become a preceptor at PSAU's College of Pharmacy:
- Must express a desire and willingness to educate and train student pharmacists within the pharmacist’s practice setting.
- Must be a licensed pharmacist from the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties and must be in good standing status, for at least one year.
- Continue professional development and participate in professional organizations.
- Demonstrate appropriate interpersonal and inter‐professional communication and relationships.
- Abide by all program guidelines for student training and evaluation.
- Should be a positive role model for students, adhere to a pharmacist’s code of ethical conduct and show a caring attitude toward patients.
- Has sufficient time to spend with student, providing one‐to‐one training and assessment during the training period.
- Allow the student to assume responsibilities of pharmacists’ functions under the supervision of a licensed pharmacist when permitted by law.
- Provide feedback to student both verbally and written throughout the training period.
- Be available to the student to answer questions and provide guidance throughout the training period.
- The pervious assessment provided by the college representative on preceptor training supervision, if applicable.
Moreover, the Experiential Training Committee enhances the requirements for any training site. The requirements are designed to provide students with an opportunity to demonstrate and develop the knowledge, skills, and behaviors that patients expect from pharmacists. For a training site to become an accepted site, it must meet the following criteria as determined by PSAU's College of Pharmacy:
- Licensed to perform medication dispensing services
- Continuously provide training seats
- Has a high volume of patients
- Provides a private area for patient counseling and medication review
- Provides students with access to electronic and hard copy information resources
- An electronic prescription system is in place, so prescriptions can be received electronically
- A system for inventory management is in place
The training programs for males and females are the same and there are no differences between them. There is equal access to all sites for both males and females. Regardless of gender, the committee distributes the students based on their discretion and GPA. Therefore, it is easier to find male and female students trained at the same training site.
Due to the committee's efforts during summer 2021-2022, community pharmacy training opportunities for PHTR 301 (PHTR 341, for the quarter term) exceeded the required capacity (147 training seats). In order to reach this goal, the committee secured over 100 training locations at community pharmacies. Furthermore, over 138 seats have been obtained from 25