Seamless and collaborative practical training between clinics and pharmacies to improve the professional identity of Japanese pharmacy students

In Japan, almost all clinical pharmacy departments moved to a six-year practical training program in 2006. The student training took place at the pharmacy schools and did not expose students to the medical process from the clinic to the pharmacy. In this study's clinical training, the students accompanied patients from the Wakayama Medical University satellite clinic to the neighboring prefectural pharmacist association pharmacy to experience the process. The students learned about the doctor's prescribing intent, the prescription explanation to the patient, more about the patient's condition, and the effectiveness of interprofessional practice. Following the training program, a questionnaire was given to the students on the multidisciplinary collaboration and training. A qualitative analysis of the questionnaire comments extracted categories in the usefulness of practical training, prescription intention, patient information, interdisciplinary cooperation, and prescription guidance and audit. The clinic to pharmacy training allowed students to take on develop their professional identity within the interprofessional collaboration, understand prescription intentions, and hear doctor explanations of the prescriptions to patients.