Heart Failure/ Anticoagulation Counseling

Date: September 2nd-24th, 2024

Length of Activity: 1-2 hours per week

Prep Time: ~2 hours

Learners: 1 pharmacy student

Comfort Level: Medium

Teaching Goals Addressed: 

   SMART Goal 3: Learn how to provide quality feedback by providing constructive criticism to students through a variety of student-led teaching opportunities. 

SMART Goal 4: Provide ten to fifteen valuable patient counseling examples for pharmacy students to enhance their counseling skills over the residency year. 

Teaching Materials: Heart failure patient education packet and anticoagulant education packets

Method Used to Assess Learner Understanding: I utilized a pre- and post-survey to determine the student's improvement in confidence and knowledge in counseling patients over heart failure as a disease state, the medications used to treat heart failure, and the lifestyle modifications recommended for patients with heart failure. I also had the student pretend like I was a patient diagnosed with heart failure and had her counsel me at the end of the month. I also observed the student counsel ~20 patients over the use of anticoagulants. I gave constructive feedback over her counseling. 

Feedback from Student and Preceptor: 

Student feedback: She enjoyed watching me counsel patients over heart failure because it allowed her to learn the topic better and to get an idea of how she might want to counsel patients in the future. She said that heart failure was a complicated disease state, so it was helpful to watch me as an example. She said that by the end of the month she felt a lot more comfortable with both heart failure and anticoagulation counseling. 

Preceptor Feedback: She said that I did a great job modeling heart failure counseling and providing the student with an experience to counsel me as a pretend patient. She said that I seemed to be a "natural teacher" and provided really valuable counseling examples and critique for the student.

Reflection: During this teaching experience, I was able to practice my own counseling skills and learn where I could improve and tailer my counseling points to best serve the patient. In doing this, I was also able be an example for the student. She learned along with me, and together we talked through ways that we could both improve. Even though I had more experience and knowledge, she was able to give me really good feedback as well for my benefit going forward. At the end of the month, we both felt more at ease and confident when teaching our patients about their disease states, medications, and lifestyle modifications.