Exploration of Methods Used by Pharmacy Professional Programs to Contract with Experiential Practice Sites

To explore methods used by pharmacy programs to attract and sustain relationships with preceptors and experiential practice sites. Interviews with eight focus groups of pharmacy experiential education experts (n=35) were conducted at two national pharmacy meetings. A semi-structured interview guide was used. Focus group interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and categorically coded independently by two researchers. Codes were compared, consensus was reached through discussion, and two experiential education experts assisted with interpretation of the coded data. Six themes emerged consistently across focus groups: a perceived increase in preceptor compensation, intended vs actual use of payments by sites, concern over renegotiation of established compensation, costs and benefits of experiential students, territorialism, and motives. Fostering a culture of collaboration may counteract potentially competitive strategies to gain sites. Participants shared a common interest in providing high-quality experiential learning where sites and preceptors participated for altruistic reasons, rather than compensation.