A Virtual Interdisciplinary and Interprofessional Educational Program (VIP) for Pre‐Matriculated Doctor of Pharmacy Students to Bridge Prerequisite Pharmacology Content

Abstract

COVID-19 vastly disrupted education across the globe, creating unique challenges for health professions education (HPE) programs. While in some instances, COVID was perceived to serve as a potential driving force for transformative change in HPE through necessary “disruptive innovation”, a number of challenges have been identified, particularly for pharmacy education in countries as diverse as Japan, Nigeria, the United States, and United Kingdom. Worldwide adoption of online education in response to the pandemic's disruption need careful and long-term evaluation to ensure that adequate learner acquisition of skills-based and didactic curriculum occurred during this time. Nowhere is this need more urgent than for curriculum associated with interprofessional pre-matriculation programs. In 2018, we created an interdisciplinary, one-week-long pre-matriculation program to help incoming pharmacy students be adequately prepared for the rigors of a Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) program. In summer 2020, we modified and expanded this pre-matriculation program by adding primers introducing interprofessional education, and cross-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary aspects related to pharmacy school and conducted a case-controlled, retrospective, single-blinded (blinded to the teaching faculty) study analysis through a comparison of learning metrics between 2019 and 2020. The two-week-long virtual program, co-taught by ten faculty members, was offered for six hours daily during the summer of 2020 in the week preceding orientation week for first professional year students in our Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) program. Case Based Learning and aspects of Team Based Learning were incorporated to engage twenty-two pre-matriculation students enrolled for our Doctor of Pharmacy program. This virtual program was designed to overcome diversity in pre-requisite course content and identify and address gaps in students’ abilities to relate foundational science knowledge with pharmacy subjects. The following subjects were included: cardiovascular, neuro, and renal pathophysiology and pharmacology, and skills-based courses such as introduction to simulation, clinical decision making, interprofessional education, graduate writing. The third area we focused on included emotional and mental health and resiliency in the current pandemic. Mixed method evaluation was used including comparing student perceptions of their learning on a twenty-question survey instrument and comparison of the post-activity quiz data. Seventy-seven percent of the attending students from 2020 agreed and 22 percent strongly agreed that the virtual program helped them connect the dots between pathophysiology and pharmacology and pharmacology and skills-based courses such as interprofessional education. Post-activity quiz results did not show any significant difference between the two cohorts suggesting that the online learning environment was at least as effective as the in-person environment. The major limitation was the small class size, paucity of time for specific topics, and familiarity with technology.