Decoding Medication Tradenames; an innovative Method for Top 200 medications in Didactic & Experiential Courses

Abstract

ObjectiveTo investigate whether decoding of top 200 medication tradenames can result in improving pharmacy students’ performance in IPPE‐didactic & experiential courses. For ex: Macrobid®; provides an elegant explanation of (MACRO) size crystal form of (Macrodantin) designed for slower absorption & less excretion, hence, used twice daily (BID).MethodsAn educational intervention of decoded tradenames (explanation of techniques used in top 200 tradenames) was implemented using Quizlet & summary‐tables before the summative final exam in a first‐year didactic IPPE course. Aggregate de‐identified students’ scores were used for blinded‐paired statistical‐analyses. A Likert‐scale‐surveys was used for evaluating students’ quality of learning experience after both the IPPE‐didactic and experiential rotations courses.ResultsIn aggregate analyses from Fall 2019‐2020; paired data analyses using Wilcoxon test showed a statistically significant increase in average students’ performance from 70.6% +/‐ 18.9% in formative to 80.5% +/‐ 23.5% in summative assessments after the intervention in control questions involving tradenames without rational explanation (p‐value<0.001). Whereas, in questions involving tradenames that have rational explanations, students’ performance increased from an average of 58.0%+/‐28.3% before the intervention, to 75.9%+/‐22.2% afterwards, which represents a net significant difference of 8.1%+/‐39.8% between question groups (p‐value0.009) (n= 169 students). In addition, at least 80% of students reported that decoding tradenames can help them to retain key medications features & connect it to generic names during didactic course, hence, provide better medication recommendations, & make less potential medication errors during their experiential rotation (n=72/94 students).ConclusionsSupplementing pharmacy curricula with the art & science of formulating medication tradenames can improve students’ academic performance in didactic courses. Furthermore, it can also improve the resulting quality of healthcare services future pharmacists provide during their experiential education.