School: Purdue University Main Campus
Professor: Dr. Robert K. Chalmers

COURSE GOALS:
a. Provide a caring experience that inculcates the values and ethics of treating people as individuals
b. Continue development of student foundational and professional abilities
c. Develop sensitivity to persons who are different by virtue of cultural, race, age, economic circumstance, disability or other reasons
d. Experience the important interrelationship of social services and social support to a person·s or family unit·s health care efforts and effectiveness
e. Increase social awareness of health-related issues and citizenship enhancement in general

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

Service Learning I – For first and second professional year students.
Involves developing a weekly companionship service relationship with a homebound client that also contributes to the case management monitoring process of the partner agency. Learning is facilitated through reflection activities, including a personal journal, regular reflection sessions with other student participants, questionnaires and a brief final report. Learning objectives include an appreciation for the impact of a caring relationship, social support, aging, health care problems, medications and health system changes on a person’s health and well-being.

Service Learning II – For second and third professional year students
Involves developing a patient care service experience in conjunction with a community health or social service agency and learning through reflection activities as in Service Learning I. Learning objectives include practicing professional abilities essential to pharmaceutical care and gaining enhanced understanding of the individuality of patient needs.

Description of the service learning project

a. Community partners – Area IV Agency on Aging and Community Services, Care Givers Companions, Indiana Veterans Home, Community Health Clinic, St. Elizabeth Hospital Cardiac Rehabilitation Clinic, Visiting Nurse Health Service, Lafayette Adult Reading Academy

b. Community needs addressed by SL projects

Companionship for homebound elderly or disabled clients of partner social service agencies and extension of case managers client monitoring process. Clients and needs identified by agency case managers and supervisors.

Work with clients and professional staff of community partner agencies to identify, analyze and help resolve medication-related problems and through counseling and companionship to encourage lifestyle and therapy follow-through to enhance health care of the clients. Clients and needs identified by agency staff as well as by students.

Student enlightenment of client real needs related to health care, the interrelated services of community agencies and the important role of a caring relationship to effective services all enhance student preparation to become an effective, proactive pharmacist.

c. Description of solutions and how implemented solutions related to enhancement of client well-being and health-care outcomes (both Service Learning I and II) are implemented to involve the student in coordination with on-going care services of the agencies. These solutions are individualized in the context of the clients’ individual circumstances.

d. Roles of faculty, student participants and community participants

Faculty recruit and orient community partners to SL course objectives and design, work with community partners to develop guidelines for student experiences to best coordinate with agency services and their clients’ needs. Faculty also lead reflection sessions, mentor students to gain the most from their experience opportunities, and assess journals and reports. Faculty refine the course approach each semester based on evaluation feedback from the agency and the student.

Students participate as described in 6, 7b, 7e to accomplish the course goals (5). Students invent or evolve their experience in the context of the general format of course and mentoring guidelines for their particular agency.

Community partners help with orientation of students, setting guidelines for students, identify clients, receiving and acting on feedback on clients from students, participating in reflection sessions, and providing evaluative feedback for course refinements.

e. How reflections are implemented

Reflective journal – students make regular entries into a personal reflective journal, associated with each client visit or agency service session. The journal is intended to help each student focus, reflect, and deepen learning from the experiences and should be a resource for the bimonthly reflection sessions. The course packet also provides ?reflection questions‰ pertaining to each of the five course objectives for student response in his/her reflection journal by preassigned dates. The journal is the student?s property, but is turned in three times during the semester for instructor review.

Reflection sessions – students participate in 50 minute reflection sessions at two week intervals throughout the semester. These sessions are scheduled in the Pharmacy Building and are attended by all students in groups of 10 – 12 along with the course instructors and agency representatives. Their purposes are to enhance student thinking about their experiences through sharing learning experiences, problems and participating in mutual problem-solving.

Final report and course evaluation – students prepare a three-five page summary paper of experiences that include new insights and recommendations for course improvement. Complete a course evaluation questionnaire as well. The papers and course evaluations are utilized by the faculty and agency in continuing to improve and expand the service-learning program for future students. The summary paper is also viewed as a useful document in the student?s portfolio.

Assessment of student achievement of course objectives

• 1. Instructor assesses journals at three points during the semester (weeks 5, 10, 16)

• a. Provide positive appraisal of the student?s reflections

• b. Pose questions to guide students toward deeper reflection on problems/issues

c. Observe growth in reflective and writing skills

2. Instructor evaluates student participation in reflection sessions throughout the semester, in regard to changes in student?s ability to reflect, understand his/her role in society/the profession, understand clients? circumstances and problem-solve

f. What fraction of total course grade is related to the SL project.

To-date with the course offering the total grade is based on follow-through on course features related to the SL project and reflection activities. It is intended to build in some content-related readings and student write-ups as an additional basis for broadening student learning and broadening basis for course grades.

g. Results, and (h.) lessons learned

A Masters student project focused on development and evaluation of outcomes in terms of achievement of objectives from the student and community partner perspectives. The student’s thesis is due to be completed this summer with an abstract and later a manuscript will be available on request. In general, offering this course each semester during the past two academic years has led to universally positive learning and motivation outcomes for each student participant and continuing interests from each community partner to continue to participate. Student enrollment in this elective course began with 23 and 19 in the first two semesters, 34 this past spring (1997), and 54 in the fall semester (1997).