Utilizing Simulated Caregiver Scenarios to Cultivate Caregiver Perspectives and Empathy among Pharmacy Students within Ambulatory Care

Abstract

Objective: To cultivate caregiver perspectives and empathy through computer-based simulations in the ambulatory care setting. Methods: A total of 46 third-year students were enrolled in the 2-week ambulatory care elective at the University of Florida College of Pharmacy. Students were assigned 5 computer-based simulated scenarios, each created to encompass elements regarding social determinants of health from a caregiver perspective. After each scenario, students were required to complete a post scenario assessment where students were tasked with reporting their emotional response by providing 3 adjectives upon completion. After completing all caregiver scenarios, students completed a postsimulation reflection connecting their experience with caring for their future ambulatory care patients. Both individual and final reflections were analyzed and assigned to the themes of emotional strife, compassion/understanding, self-reflection, resilience, and/or other to determine proportion of identified themes. Results: For the individual caregiver scenarios, the most identified theme was emotional strife amongst all scenarios (45%-68%). Regarding the final reflection, most of the theme identified were compassion/understanding (46%) followed by self-reflection (29%). Emotional strife was the least identified theme in the final reflection (7%). Conclusion: After students completed all the caregiver scenarios, students reported higher levels of compassion/understanding and self-reflection when compared with other identified themes. Through this computer-based simulation, students gained a better understanding and empathy toward the caregiver perspective when faced with common health care disparities in an ambulatory care patient population.