Experiential placements : dissemination and stakeholder engagement for curriculum planning action to prepare future pharmacy professionals

Preparing graduates for the professions is increasingly recognised as involving a partnership approach to curriculum design, implementation and evaluation. Experiential placements play a critical role in developing discipline-specific knowledge and skills and also generic professional dispositions including relationships, communication, problem solving and creativity. This involves academics, workplace supervisors and students in being clear about the outcomes of the learning process and taking responsibility for various aspects. The 'Experiential Placements in Pharmacy' research project was conducted during 2007 with the aim of documenting current practice in Australian university pharmacy school experiential placement programs. This paper describes collaborative work between researchers, university academics and practitioners to determine future directions for the project towards improved curriculum planning and developing graduated descriptors related to professional competency outcomes. We describe the approach used to disseminate research recommendations and to gain input into the project and give a brief outline of the eventual action which is being implemented to further improve curriculum planning for the experiential learning environment for Australian pharmacy students. [Author abstract]