The impact of preceptor and student learning styles on experiential performance measures.

OBJECTIVES: To identify preceptors' and students' learning styles to determine how these impact students' performance on pharmacy practice experience assessments.

METHODS: Students and preceptors were asked to complete a validated Pharmacist's Inventory of Learning Styles (PILS) questionnaire to identify dominant and secondary learning styles. The significance of "matched" and "unmatched" learning styles between students and preceptors was evaluated based on performance on both subjective and objective practice experience assessments.

RESULTS: Sixty-one percent of 67 preceptors and 57% of 72 students who participated reported "assimilator" as their dominant learning style. No differences were found between student and preceptor performance on evaluations, regardless of learning style match.

CONCLUSION: Determination of learning styles may encourage preceptors to use teaching methods to challenge students during pharmacy practice experiences; however, this does not appear to impact student or preceptor performance.