Being “APPE ready” can be daunting to students as they work through their school’s pharmacy curriculum. This is especially true when they are required to deliver their first journal club presentation to preceptors. From needing the clinical skills required to interpret statistical data to being able to verbalize the data and answer questions, students are often intimidated by journal clubs. However, with practice and helpful feedback, students’ feelings about giving these presentations can shift from anxiousness to eagerness. This shift in mindset is one of the goals of the South Dakota State University (SDSU) chapter of SCCP when helping students conquer their fear of journal clubs.

At SDSU, the local SCCP chapter creates opportunities for its pharmacy students to gain experience in presenting journal clubs. At least monthly, the chapter organizes a group of students to volunteer to present a journal club on a topic of their choice to their peers and the faculty. Typically, the articles are chosen to coincide with the current topics being taught in P3 pharmacotherapeutics. Faculty are present at these journal clubs to help clarify information for students as well as to ask questions similar to those asked on rotation.

These journal clubs are a great way for students to practice presenting, but when COVID-19 prevented in-person meetings, the SCCP chapter had to get more creative. Once in-person learning had been shut down, the SCCP executive board decided to move these journal clubs online. This was only necessary a few times because the semester was almost over, but when the chapter’s P4 rotations were delayed for May and June, the chapter got creative again. With the P4 students having all of this unexpected extra time, the SDSU SCCP chapter decided it would be a great opportunity to continue its journal clubs into the summer to help P4 students stay sharp on their clinical skills before beginning rotations. Starting June 3 and ending July 7, a journal club was held every Tuesday covering topics from dapagliflozin and cardiovascular outcomes in type 2 diabetes to all-cause discontinuation of clozapine versus other oral second-generation antipsychotics in patients with schizophrenia. Each journal club began with the presentation of the article by students and ended with faculty members providing input on clinical application and an analysis of the article statistics.

Overall, the chapter has found this an excellent way to help students become more comfortable with data interpretation and application, thereby making them more prepared for their APPEs. In the future, the chapter hopes to collect and analyze students’ responses to these journal clubs to determine exactly how helpful they find these presentations. However, feedback from individual P4 students has been positive, and students have appreciated the review in a safer environment before they have to perform on rotations.