The Daily Dose: Utilizing WhatsApp to engage pharmacy students in clinical discussion

Abstract

Background and purposeThere are many challenges associated with longitudinally applying therapeutic knowledge in the pharmacy curriculum. This study investigated student participation using the messaging platform, WhatsApp (Meta Platforms, Inc.), as a discussion-based platform for pharmacy students. Educational activity and settingThe created WhatsApp group chat discussion, “The Daily Dose,” was a longitudinal learning experience occurring during pharmacy students' last year of clinical rotations or third year of didactic learning. Students were asked daily clinical questions in the application and participation was primarily assessed. This study included a pre-survey, discussion participation assessment, and a post-survey. The surveys assessed student self-evaluations of their learning, clinical confidence levels, board preparedness, and program learning experience feedback. FindingsA total of 115 questions were asked and 37 students voluntarily joined. Students participated by responding to 97% of questions. Of the 37 students who joined, 81% were experiential education students and 19% were didactic education students. A moderator needed to prompt for participation for 34% of the questions. The majority of students (95%) learned something new. Experiential education students were more likely to participate than didactic education students. A moderator may be beneficial to keep the discussion active. Students' self-evaluations of clinical confidence and board preparedness increased after participating in The Daily Dose. SummaryThe Daily Dose is an innovative way to engage student discussion and reinforce pharmacy therapeutic knowledge. This tool could be expanded to use with multiple pharmacy learners.