Always ask your pharmacist: Using the media to enhance student drug information skills

Abstract

Background and purposeSocial media is a source for information and misinformation, including healthcare information. Pharmacy students are trained to critically assess health information literature; however, this does not typically extend into assessing claims made on social media platforms. Students were asked to evaluate social media claims to provide a patient-specific recommendation and response. Educational activity and settingEach student was given one of five media claims and asked to assess the validity of the claim to create a response and a recommendation for a provider and a patient. Students were placed in small groups for a verbal presentation of all the claims and a facilitator-led discussion about the pharmacist's role in healthcare information. FindingsStudents responded to the media claims and were able to support or reject the validity of the statements. They also created a variety of patient-facing informational documents. SummaryThe inclusion of questions derived from media sources is a unique way to incorporate drug information skills that is relevant to real-world practice.