The patient perspective of pharmacy clerkship students' roles in pharmacist-patient relationship development and the delivery of care

We studied patients' perceptions of pharmacy student participation in care and compared these perceptions to pharmacist-patient relationship construct s. A descriptive, cross-sectional mail survey design, with a probabilistic sample of anticoagulation clinic patients was used. The useable response ra te ranged from 69 to 84 percent (97-117/140). Results revealed patients hav e favorable perceptions of students and their participation. These percepti ons were significantly correlated with pharmacist-patient relationship cons tructs. More favorable perceptions of students were associated with higher patient ratings of Interpersonal Relationship Quality, and greater Collabor ative Willingness with, and Felt Indebtedness toward the pharmacists. The p resence of students in a practice setting likely affects patients' percepti ons of care and the quality of the pharmacist-patient relationship.