Elective Self-Care Course Emphasizing Critical Reasoning Principles

Abstract

To create, implement, and assess a self-directed online course based on 3 critical reasoning principles to develop pharmacy students' skills in literature appraisal, content, metacognition, and assessment. Students completed 3 assignments for the course: compile a literature appraisal on a healthcare topic; plan learning objectives and meta-cognitive skills for a learning module; and create a case-based online lesson with multi-structured feedback. An online exit survey evaluated students' perceptions regarding development of ACE (agency, collaboration, expertise) principles and preparation for competency. Students reported acquisition of ACE principles and noted improvements in their learning approaches, sense of responsibility for individual and community learning, skills, and confidence. An online elective course in self-care addressed practice standards for patient safety, maintenance of competency, and interprofessional education by emphasizing critical reasoning skills.