The impact of an intravenous admixture course on student pharmacists' confidence and comfort levels in compounding sterile preparations

Introduction

Ensuring the safety and accuracy of compounded sterile preparations (CSPs) is a crucial part of a pharmacist's role. The purpose of this study was to determine if intravenous (IV) admixture lab course activities improved students' confidence and comfort levels in compounding sterile preparations across campuses and terms.

Methods

This study examined pre- and post-survey results collected from third-year pharmacy students (P3s) who enrolled in the 2022 Basic IV Admixtures Lab course, delivered on two campuses, during the 5-week summer term or 10-week fall term. Confidence and comfort levels were measured using a 5-point Likert scale (1 = not confident/comfortable at all to 5 = completely confident/comfortable) with seven questions in each category. Helpfulness of required and optional course activities was measured with eleven questions using a 5-point Likert scale (1 = unhelpful to 5 = helpful). Descriptive statistics, paired t-tests, and ANOVA were used for data analysis.

Results

Ninety-eight students completed both pre- and post-surveys (94.2 % response rate). Student confidence and comfort level improved (p < 0.001) on all measured items after taking the course, with improvement in confidence ranging from 0.62 to 2.35 points and comfort level ranging from 0.62 to 2.18 points. No differences were found in mean improvement scores between terms or between campuses. The majority of required and optional activities had a high mean score of 4 and above on the helpfulness scale.

Conclusion

The IV admixture lab course improved confidence and comfort levels in the preparation of CSPs regardless of which term and on which campus students took the course.