Teaching approaches in pharmacy courses: An observational study

Abstract

Introduction Universities across the world have shifted their teaching approaches in Health tertiary education in response to health professions having even a stronger focus on patient-centred care. This change demands higher order attributes for our graduates. In pharmacy curriculum, the trends have moved towards programs that embed integrated learning in a collaborative student-led environments within a framework of professional competences. This contemporary environment is mostly supported by pedagogical principles of Connectivism and Social Constructivism in contrast to the Behaviourism, Cognitivism and Humanism that was predominant in more traditional programs. However, the implementation of an effective transition towards contemporary curricula has not been explored, and it requires a through assessment of the pedagogical principles supporting the delivery of teaching activities in traditional and contemporary programs. This investigation may provide those academics involved in curriculum design with a “roadmap” that facilitates that transition into contemporary courses. Aim To describe the teaching approaches utilised by pharmacy academics in a traditional and a contemporary pharmacy curriculum. Methods A mixed methods cross-sectional design was used for the generation of data. Academics from the Discipline of Pharmacy in the School of Clinical Sciences were invited to participate in an observational study to identify the teaching approaches used during their teaching activities. A checklist with the five most common pedagogical theories was used to generate the quantitative data, and field notes were taken for the qualitative data. Results The results of this study will identify the pedagogical theories that support traditional and contemporary pharmacy curricula. Discussion The study can help provide a starting point for current and future analysis of pharmacy undergraduate education. In addition, it can help the pharmacy curricula to better meet the needs demands of the pharmacy profession. This research can also be useful for other Health disciplines in the transition to contemporary curricula.