Specialized training in hospital pharmacy: an overview of the concerns, needs and current situation of resident tutors

Patricia Sanmartín-Fenollera, María Dolores Zamora-Barrios, Teresa Giménez-Poderós, María Amparo Talens-Bolos, Eva Negro-Vega, on behalf of the Tutors’ Group of the Spanish Society of Hospital Pharmacists.

To provide new insight into the training needs and resources required by hospital pharmacy resident tutors in Spain, as well as  into their level of motivation and satisfaction with their teaching. Method: Google Forms® was used to design a survey addressed to hospital pharmacy resident tutors between January and March 2019. They survey consisted of generic (tutor, hospital, service) and specific  questions (available resources, teaching activities, teaching satisfaction,  training needs). A univariate exploratory analysis was conducted to study  possible factors related to teaching satisfaction and motivation. Results: Replies were received from 83 tutors (rate of response: 52.8%), from  15/17 Spanish regions. The annual resident/tutor ratio was 4 (IQR = 2- 4). A total of 96.4% of tutors conducted interviews, of whom 65.1% did so  quarterly. Other activities included the management of external training  rotations (97.6%), planning of rotations (97.6%) and annual  appraisals  (96.4%). Only 17.1% of respondents were given time off their regular duties  for their tutorship work, with 71.4% stating that the time they were allowed  was insufficient. A total of 70.7% of tutors from eight Spanish regions where  the granting of protected time was regulated said were not given any time off  for their teaching endeavors. Most tutors declared to be satisfied (66.7%) and  motivated (63%) with their teaching work. Motivation appeared to fall with  age, and both motivation and satisfaction decreased as a function of the tutors'  years of professional experience and when they were given no time off  for their tutorship work or when the remuneration was low, without any  relationship being identified between these factors. Tutors pointed out that work should be done to increase the number of hours assigned to tutorships  (78%), preparing SEFH-validated training plans (76.8%), improving teaching  techniques (65.9%), and decreasing the clinical workload (62.2%). Over the  past 3 years, 69.1% of tutors had received training. This training was arranged  by educational committees (63.3%), the Spanish regional authorities  (42.4%) and SEFH (13.6%). All the training in clinical, teaching, and communicative competencies enjoyed wide acceptance (> 90%). The  preferred delivery method was hybrid (partly on-line and partly onsite)  (64.6%). SEFH's tutors' group conducted its first national survey  addressed to hospital pharmacy resident tutors. The survey showed that, although tutors are highly satisfied with their teaching activities, they  ould like more training and to be able to devote more time to their tutorship work. It was also shown that a regulatory framework needs to be  implemented in various Spanish regions and that compliance with existing  regional regulations must be improved.