(135) Does the format of patient case delivery matter? – Paper vs MedAffinity vs EHRGo

Objective : To compare the effect of patient case delivery format in the classroom on student perceptions and preceptor evaluations of student ability to perform the ‘Collect’ step of the Pharmacist Patient Care Process (PPCP) during advanced pharmacy practice experiences (APPEs).

Methods: Each year for three years, third (P3)- and fourth-year (P4) students completed surveys regarding how the use of paper patient cases or patient cases delivered via a simulated electronic medical record (EMR) affected their ability to collect pertinent information and navigate an EMR. In year one, P3 students received cases through MedAffinity; in the following two years, they used EHR Go. Fourth-year students received paper cases in year one, followed in subsequent years by MedAffinity, then EHR Go. Kruskal-Wallis tests compared survey Likert scale scores and Chi-Square tests compared pass rates on APPE evaluations across cohorts.

Results: A total of 158 (76.7%) P3 and 132 (64.7%) P4 students completed the surveys. More P3s perceived use of EHR Go helped them efficiently identify relevant medical and medication history within an EMR compared with MedAffinity (p=0.028). Compared to paper cases, more P3s felt cases in EHR Go were better for learning how to navigate an EMR (p=0.006) and focusing on pertinent subjective and objective information (p=0.002). No differences were seen across P4 cohorts or for P3s after becoming P4s, suggesting that additional time and clinical experience did not impact perceptions. Preceptor evaluations of student performance in collecting information were not significantly affected by the method of case delivery.

Conclusions: While some student perceptions favor EHR Go, preceptor evaluations of the ‘Collect’ step of the PPCP were unaffected by patient case delivery method in the classroom.