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Lajthia E, Law MG, Jorden J, Haynes B, Awuonda MK, Habib M, Karodeh YR, Wingate LT. The impact of critical thinking skills on student pharmacist GPA at a historically Black university. CURRENTS IN PHARMACY TEACHING & LEARNING 2024; 16:435-444. [PMID: 38594171 DOI: 10.1016/j.cptl.2024.04.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/15/2023] [Revised: 03/30/2024] [Accepted: 04/04/2024] [Indexed: 04/11/2024]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Limited information is available regarding whether malleable factors such as critical thinking skills are associated with academic performance among underrepresented minority pharmacy students. This study assessed the relationship between critical thinking skills and grade point average (GPA) among pharmacy students attending a Historically Black College. METHODS A cross sectional study design was utilized to evaluate the association between student's GPA and critical thinking skills. Demographic data and GPA were abstracted from student records. The health sciences reasoning test with numeracy was administered to pharmacy students at Howard University during the 2017 to 2018 academic year. Critical thinking scores were classified as weak, moderate, or strong/superior. A one way analysis of variance was conducted to ascertain if the average GPA differed based on critical thinking skills category. A multiple linear regression analysis was conducted to determine whether student's critical thinking skill category was associated with the cumulative GPA after accounting for other factors. RESULTS Among 217 students, the mean GPA among students with a weak critical thinking skills score (3.22 ± 0.40) was lower compared to students with a strong/superior score (3.39 ± 0.33) with a p-value of 0.029. After adjusting for other factors, a strong/superior critical thinking skills score was associated with a higher GPA (p-value = 0.024) in comparison to weak critical thinking skills. CONCLUSION Stronger critical thinking skills scores are associated with better academic performance among underrepresented minority pharmacy students.
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Affiliation(s)
- Estela Lajthia
- Assistant Professor Clinical and Administrative Pharmacy Sciences, Howard University College of Pharmacy, 2300 4(th) Street NW, Washington, DC 20059, USA
| | - Miranda G Law
- Associate Professor Clinical and Administrative Pharmacy Sciences, Howard University College of Pharmacy, 2300 4(th) Street NW, Washington, DC 20059, USA
| | - Jamila Jorden
- Assistant Professor Clinical and Administrative Pharmacy Sciences, Howard University College of Pharmacy, 2300 4(th) Street NW, Washington, DC 20059, USA
| | - Bryanna Haynes
- Professional Student, Howard University College of Pharmacy, 2300 4(th) Street NW, Washington, DC 20059, USA
| | - Mary K Awuonda
- Associate Professor Clinical and Administrative Pharmacy Sciences, Howard University College of Pharmacy, 2300 4(th) Street NW, Washington, DC 20059, USA
| | - Muhammad Habib
- Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Professor, Howard University College of Pharmacy, 2300 4(th) Street NW, Washington, DC 20059, USA
| | - Youness R Karodeh
- Assistant Dean of NTDP and External Programs and Associate Professor, Howard University College of Pharmacy, 2300 4th Street NW, Washington, DC 20059, USA
| | - La'Marcus T Wingate
- Associate Professor Clinical and Administrative Pharmacy Sciences, Howard University College of Pharmacy, 2300 4(th) Street NW, Washington, DC 20059, USA.
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Abebe E, Bao A, Kokkinias P, Russ-Jara AL, Degnan D. Maximizing student potential: Lessons for pharmacy programs from the patient safety movement. EXPLORATORY RESEARCH IN CLINICAL AND SOCIAL PHARMACY 2022; 9:100216. [PMID: 36632371 PMCID: PMC9827372 DOI: 10.1016/j.rcsop.2022.100216] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2022] [Revised: 11/06/2022] [Accepted: 12/14/2022] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Higher education institutions (HEIs), including pharmacy programs, are experiencing growing pressure from the public and policy makers to develop student-centered learning experiences that meet societal needs. While HEIs may have in-house initiatives to meet such challenges, there are also opportunities for cross-domain learning and application of useful concepts from other sectors. One such sector that lends itself to cross-domain learning is the healthcare industry. Like HEIs, the healthcare industry has been experiencing pressure from its stakeholders, in this case, to address patient safety gaps. These forces intensified at the turn of the century leading to the emergence of what is now known as the patient safety movement, which enabled increased advocacy, education, and research to reduce healthcare-related harm. Despite persistent challenges, a key achievement of the patient safety movement has been application of a systems framework to understand and solve patient safety gaps. That is, patient safety gaps are often a result of system defects rather than isolated acts of individual workers operating in a complex social and technical work setting (often referred to as sociotechnical system). Commonly used systems frameworks describe a sociotechnical system through its components: 1) structure (e.g., people, tools/technology, physical workspaces); 2) processes (e.g., medication administration); and 3) outcomes (e.g., medication safety, patient satisfaction). At their core, both HEIs and healthcare organizations are complex sociotechnical systems that organize their structures to support specific processes - learning in HEIs and patient safety in healthcare - to ultimately improve outcomes for students and patients, respectively. This paper describes parallels between HEIs and the healthcare domain to illustrate how patient safety concepts and practices from healthcare can be adapted to HEIs in order to enhance educational structures, processes, and learning outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ephrem Abebe
- Department of Pharmacy Practice, College of Pharmacy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
- Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
- School of Medicine, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN, USA
- Corresponding author at: Department of Pharmacy Practice, Purdue University College of Pharmacy, 575 Stadium Mall Drive, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA.
| | - Amy Bao
- Department of Pharmacy Practice, College of Pharmacy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
| | - Peter Kokkinias
- Department of Pharmacy Practice, College of Pharmacy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
| | - Alissa L. Russ-Jara
- Department of Pharmacy Practice, College of Pharmacy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
- Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
| | - Dan Degnan
- Department of Pharmacy Practice, College of Pharmacy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
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