IMPACT OF EXPERIENTIAL EDUCATION ON PHARMACY STUDENTS PERCEPTIONS OF HEALTH ROLES

Role expectations can have a significant impact on the effectiveness o f interdisciplinary collaboration in health care delivery, This projec t was designed to determine: (i) fifth-year students' perceptions of p rofessional roles and attitudes toward other health care workers prior to externship/clerkship experiences; and (ii) changes in their percep tions and attitudes after their externship/clerkship experiences. In t he Spring of 1994 data were collected from 147 fifth-year pharmacy stu dents in one school of pharmacy prior to and at the conclusion of thei r experiential program. It was determined that students' perceptions o f and attitudes toward health care professionals did change after comp leting the;program. Specifically, students' attitudes toward physician s were more positive. In addition, student perceptions regarding healt h care roles shifted toward a perception of increased sharing of respo nsibility between health care professionals. The results emphasize the importance of incorporating interdisciplinary health care issues into pharmacy school curricula.