First do no 'pharm': Educating medical and pharmacy students on the essentials of medication management.

Background: Polypharmacy is a dilemma in modern medical practice and presents an opportunity for interprofessional collaboration. Our pilot project evaluated whether implementing an interprofessional education (IPE) session would influence awareness of interprofessional values/ethics, roles/responsibilities, communication, and teams/teamwork.

Interprofessional Education Activity: A dual-institution, multi-part IPE session on medication management was implemented with medicine and pharmacy students. Part 1 consisted of a pillbox exercise whereby students simulated the patient experience of taking medications. Part 2 was an interprofessional medication reconciliation exercise with a standardized patient. After completing the session, students were asked to reflect on their experience in response to a prompt. Reflections were analyzed qualitatively for overarching themes.

Discussion: This pilot uniquely captured the interaction between medical and pharmacy students from neighboring institutions. After completing the IPE session, both groups of students felt they were better equipped to take a medication history, perform medication reconciliation, and understand the value of a community pharmacist. Major themes elicited from reflections included: (1) increased awareness of barriers to medication adherence, (2) increased empathy towards adults with polypharmacy, (3) appreciation for the interprofessional team, and (4) realization of the importance of medication reconciliation and patient understanding of their medications.

Implications: The collaboration between institutions, located at a distance from one another, demonstrates a novel approach that can be used by others to facilitate IPE. All students gained experience interacting in an interprofessional setting simulating their future practice(s). Future studies are needed to evaluate the extent of those interactions and potential outcomes.