Pharmacy Curriculum Research Articles

Development and curricular alignment of a pharmacy travel medicine elective

Background and purposeDescribe the design, implementation, and value of a travel medicine pharmacy elective. Students translated skills from rotations and practice environments addressing travel health-related needs. Content and educational outcomes align with the Center for the Advancement of Pharmacy Education, American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, and Pharmacists' Patient Care Process core components of student learning and assessment. Educational activity and settingA two-credit travel medicine elective included live and pre-recorded lectures, self-learning modules, peer critiques, and patient engagement. Students shadowed in a travel health clinic interacting with patients to prepare a formal travel care plan unique to the patient's history and travel destination. Pre- and post-course surveys, quizzes, progressive assignments, and course evaluations provided the framework for curricular enhancement. FindingsA cohort of 32 third-year students provided evidence of successful curricular integration. Pre-course surveys demonstrated 87% of students self-scored low knowledge and ability to apply travel health services. Ninety percent of post-course surveys reported high levels of knowledge and ability. High perceived value was evident in course evaluations with some student intent to pursue credentialing. SummaryCommunity practice affords increased opportunities to identify patients in need of travel medicine services. The unique approach and design supported successful integration of a travel medicine elective in the University of South Florida Taneja College of Pharmacy curriculum. Upon elective completion, students were prepared to educate internationally traveling patients to safely self-manage chronic health conditions, reduce potential health risks and harm exposures during travel, and monitor health changes upon return.

Frequency of Course Remediation and the Effect on North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination Pass Rates

Objective. Remediation is a tool that allows students to correct an academic deficiency after earning an unsatisfactory grade. There is a lack of data on remediation processes and their impact on future academic performance. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of remediation frequency on North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination (NAPLEX) performance.Methods. The primary analysis was the relationship between the NAPLEX first-time pass rate and the frequency of course remediations (no remediations, one remediation, and two or more remediations). Additional analyses included the correlation between the NAPLEX scaled score and the number of course remediations and characteristics of the course remediated.Results. A total of 116 students with NAPLEX data were included for analysis. Compared to students who never remediated, NAPLEX first-time pass rates were similar among those who remediated only one course; however, students who remediated two or more courses had significantly lower NAPLEX pass rates. Remediation in courses mapped to Pharmacy Curriculum Outcomes Assessment (PCOA) area 4.0 (clinical sciences), and courses with mixed PCOA content areas were negatively correlated with NAPLEX scaled scores. A significant negative correlation existed between remediation in students' second or third years in pharmacy school and the NAPLEX scaled score, but this correlation was not significant for students in their first year.Conclusion. Multiple course remediations are negatively correlated with NAPLEX scaled scores and a reduced first-time NAPLEX pass rate, but a single course remediation has no effect. Institutions should aim to evaluate their current remediation practices and assess whether additional support should be provided to students with multiple course remediations.

Ensuring Doctor of Pharmacy Graduates Have the Essential Competencies for Innovative Practice

As the pharmacy profession continues to evolve from product oriented to patient centered, pharmacy programs have been transitioning from a traditional pharmacy curriculum to a competency-based education pedagogy. Competency-based education has been developed to instill the required clinical competencies in graduates to better meet the contemporary role of pharmacists in accordance with the latest scientific knowledge and evidence-based practices in an ever-evolving health care landscape. While these ideas have helped shape the new Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) Standards and Center for the Advancement of Pharmacy Education (CAPE) Educational Outcome domains, recent publications have indicated that it is integral for these Standards to include public health emergency preparedness and response. Updated Standards and Educational Outcomes must be integrated longitudinally in pharmacy curricula to ensure that graduates will be practice-ready health care professionals. This commentary highlights the strategic use of workforce development of population health based on two perspectives: emergency preparedness and response and digital health.

Exploring the discord between pharmacy education and practice in antimicrobial stewardship.

Antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) is a critical global intervention aimed at optimising antimicrobial use and decreasing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) with pharmacists playing a pivotal role within AMS teams. However, AMS is not comprehensively taught in pharmacy curricula and little is known about the relevance of pharmacists' training to meet AMS needs in South Africa. This study aimed to explore the attitudes, knowledge and perceptions of clinical pharmacists towards AMS participation and training in South Africa. This study was conducted among clinically practicing pharmacists in public and private healthcare sectors in South Africa. A quantitative exploratory research design was selected for this study. The study was conducted using a self-administered structured survey. Categorical variables were analysed using simple descriptive statistics. Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests were applied to determine differences between variables. Pharmacists demonstrated good attitudes knowledge and perceptions towards AMS (median 4.3). There was statistical significant differences in AMS participation between pharmacists of different years of experience (p = 0.005), sector of employment (p = 0.01), position of employment (p = 0.015) and presence of AMS programmes (p = 0.004). Pharmacists indicated that their Bachelor of Pharmacy undergraduate studies inadequately prepared them for their role in AMS (median 4.3). Pharmacists show positive attitudes, knowledge and perceptions towards AMS. Education and training in AMS principles is obtained through master's programmes, short courses, Continued Professional Development (CPDs) and workshops and insufficiently incorporated in undergraduate programmes. This study confirms that undergraduate pharmacy programmes inadequately prepare pharmacists for their role in AMS.

Curriculum reform and trainees' perception of the pharmacy educational environment: a modified DREEM study.

An undergraduate pharmacy curriculum reform was undertaken to meet the future healthcare demands of the people in Singapore. Understanding how educational reforms affect the learners' perceptions of the learning environment is important for quality assurance. The primary aim of this study was to investigate how pharmacy trainees perceive their educational environment before and after curriculum reform. The secondary aim was to evaluate the strengths and areas for improvement of the educational environment in the new curriculum. This was a retrospective cohort study of pharmacy trainees in Singapore. A modified version of the Dundee Ready Educational Environment Measure (mDREEM) was used to assess the pharmacy educational environment. Univariate analysis was used to compare the responses of trainees from the old and new curricula. The sample comprised 523 (93.7%) responses from the old and 677 (94.6%) from the new curriculum. The global mean scores for the mDREEM survey in the old and new curriculums were 150.4 and 156.2, respectively (P < 0.001). These results indicate that there was an increase in satisfaction with the new educational environment. In the new curriculum, the perceived educational environment varied across different pharmacy settings, and trainees rated their educational environment after graduation lower than that during their undergraduate training. The findings demonstrate that curricular reforms can alter trainees' perception of their educational environment. In our subgroup analyses, trainees' perceptions of their educational environment changed as they progressed from the undergraduate to the postgraduate training phase. Further work is needed to explore the cause-and-effect relationships between curriculum design and implementation and the resulting perceived educational environment.

Factors that Influence Career Choice of Graduating Pharmacy Students

The adoption of the “nine-star pharmacist” concept by the International Pharmaceutical Federation has transformed the pharmacy practice from a drug and quality control-focused profession to a multifaceted field. However, there is still inequitable pharmacist distribution among career sectors. Also, alarming is the exceeding interest in a specific pharmacy field. Hence, it is crucial to assess pharmacy students' attitudes and preferences toward various pharmaceutical sectors. This descriptive research determined the career preference of 4th- year Pharmacy students of a Private College for Academic year 2021- 2022. It also determined the factors that influence their choice. Data analysis was done using frequency, percentage, mean, Standard Deviation, and Kruskal-Wallis in SPSS. Results revealed that most graduating prefer community pharmacy as their career choice. It also highlighted that experience of the curriculum course, training, influence of family &amp; friends, and knowledge of the career opportunities in various pharmacy fields are factors that influence their career choice. Lastly, career preference alone is not a sufficient indicator to measure influence on choice of pharmacy graduates, and other variables for demographic profiling should be included. Moreover, a support program in the pharmacy curriculum for systematic delivery of information and skills pertinent to effective development of competent professional pharmacists is encouraged.

Student Pharmacists’ Perspectives Regarding a Virtually Delivered Research Proposal Course in the Doctor of Pharmacy Curriculum

This study aimed to assess third-year student pharmacists' perspectives regarding a virtually delivered research proposal course. A 23-item questionnaire was distributed to third-year student pharmacists enrolled in a research proposal course over three weeks in April 2021. The questionnaire contained 15 Likert-scale items, seven descriptive items, and a free-text item for additional comments about the course. Items were summarized using descriptive statistics. Fifty-four student pharmacists (response rate = 40.9%) participated in the survey. The student pharmacists surveyed generally had a positive perception of the virtually delivered research proposal course with median scores ≥ 4 (indicating agreement) for the majority (13/15) of survey items. Students did not agree that there was no difference in their motivation to succeed in the virtual course versus an in-person course and did not agree that they were more likely to pursue a career that involves undertaking a research project. This study found that student pharmacists generally had a positive perception of a virtually delivered research proposal course. These findings offer some support for the provision of an online, virtually delivered research proposal course for student pharmacists. Further research with a larger sample of students from multiple pharmacy schools is needed to improve the generalizability of the results.

Development and Assessment of Innovative High-Fidelity Simulation Vaccination Course Integrating Emergency Cases for Pharmacy Undergraduates-A Randomized Controlled Study.

Recently, pharmacists in Germany were allowed to administer influenza and COVID-19 vaccines for people aged 12 years and older in order to increase vaccination coverage rates. In order to adapt the pharmacy curriculum for clinical practice, an innovative, vaccination training course using a high-fidelity simulator (HFS) was developed, implementing clinical scenarios to manage adverse events. In a randomized controlled trial using a pre and post design with pharmacy undergraduates, the intervention group interacted with an HFS, while the control group was trained with low-fidelity injection pads. Before and after the respective training, each participant went through an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) and completed a self-assessment questionnaire and knowledge quiz. Both training methods showed a significant increase in skills, but there was also a significant greater increase in the intervention group when compared to the control group, particularly with respect to the vaccination process. Furthermore, every individual in the intervention group improved from the pre- to post-training OSCEs. Therefore, HFS has been proven to be an appropriate tool to train pharmacy students for the purposes of vaccine administration and to prepare for future challenges. Particularly, recognizing and managing adverse reactions can be addressed in a very effective way.

Training Nigerian pharmacy interns for leadership and clinical pharmacy advancement using the ADDIE method of instructional design

Background: Leadership skills are required to promote and advance clinical pharmacy practice in Nigeria. The Nigerian pharmacy curriculum does not include any modules or training in leadership. Objective: A twelve-month online training on leadership and clinical pharmacy improvement was designed and delivered to intern pharmacists in Nigeria using the ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation) method of instructional design. The goal was to train interns to demonstrate leadership skills by identifying gaps in patient care or medication use processes at their practice sites and developing projects to solve them. Method: The Kirkpatrick's four-level method of training evaluation was used to assess the training. Result: About 42% of participants completed the training with the required capstone project. Conclusion: This paper describes the implementation and evaluation of a yearlong training designed to provide pharmacy interns in Nigeria with the necessary leadership skills to advance the field of clinical pharmacy.

Attitudes of pharmacy graduates at the early career stage: A pilot survey at a private university in Japan

Background: Pharmacy graduates’ attitudes toward their work at the early career stage, their career status, job satisfaction, and future plans have not been surveyed in Japan. Methods: Postcards were sent to 514 pharmacy graduates from a University in Tokyo, Japan, asking graduates to answer an online cross-sectional questionnaire. Results: Of the 86 respondents, 15% changed their jobs within three years, and the number of pharmacists working in the “community pharmacy” sector notably increased. Respondents working in non-pharmacy sectors were more satisfied with their jobs than those in the pharmacy sector. Furthermore, job satisfaction impacted the respondents’ future work plans, and the distribution of job satisfaction varied by current career sectors. Conclusion: In response to the global social and economic situations, pharmacy education should consider various fields and skills. Career guidance should be incorporated into the pharmacy curriculum. Further studies on this case are required worldwide to prepare pharmacists for their future roles.

Computer Assisted Learning Software’s used in Pharmacology Practical’s for Pharmacy Students

Pharmacology practicals of pharmacy curriculum include study of effect of drugs on animals. For education purpose experiments were conducted on animals to develop skills for performing in-vivo and in-vitro experiments and to correlate the results with theoretic concepts explained in the books. Animal experiments have to perform according to guidelines of CPCSEA. It has been reported that animals are being subjected to painful procedure in education and training unnecessarily. In response to that, in 2014, PCI and UGC notified all pharmacy educational institutes to stop use of animal for experiments and use some other alternatives. Computer assisted learning (CAL) software’s are used as an alternative for animal experiments. Commonly used computer assisted learning (CAL) software’s in pharmacology practicals for pharmacy students are discussed in this article.

Perception and preference of pharmacy students toward e-learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This study is designed to evaluate students' knowledge and perceptions about the online learning of pharmacy curricula in Iraq during the COVID-19 quarantine. A descriptive, cross-sectional study involving 278 pharmacy students was done between October 2020 and June 2021. About 42.44% preferred face-face lecturers over other modes of delivery for lectures in the pharmacy curriculum. Most participants preferred both active learning and face-face lectures. The results show that 72.66% of responders chose to stay at home as one of the privileges of e-learning. However, the main barriers that associated with e-learning were lack of patient involvement and some technical issues regarding IT equipment, (74.82%) and (62.23%), respectively. E-learning is seen as a lack of social presence, less social contact, and synchronization of connections. However, e-learning undoubtedly benefits students in several ways. Online learning is an essential podium for students to achieve their studies in periods of crisis.

Are deeper reflectors better goal-setters? AI-empowered analytics of reflective writing in pharmaceutical education

Reflection and goal-setting are interrelated processes in well-established educational theories to promote in-depth self-reflection and self-regulated learning. Prior studies have considered reflection to be an important antecedent for meaningful goal-setting. Yet, there lacks empirical evidence to shed light on how students' abilities to reflect inform their abilities to set goals. Hence, in the present study, we aimed to quantify the connection between students' retrospective reflection and their subsequent goal-setting, and derive more in-depth insights to benefit educators in their teaching to promote deeper reflection, more specific goal-setting and better self-regulation. To this end, we utilised two fine-grained coding schemes, adapted from well-established reflection and goal-setting theories, respectively, as well as pertinent prior studies, to annotate the reflective and goal-setting elements within 600 student responses in pharmacy curricula. We visualised such elements as a network graph to study students' joint behavioural patterns in reflecting and setting goals. Then, we statistically analysed the correlation between students' reflective levels and the goal specificities using a Mann Whitney U test. We found that (1) descriptive reflection and goals that included content and actions with additional details more commonly presented jointly; (2) students who reflected deeply tended to set more specific goals. These findings are further summarised and discussed to guide educators to adopt reflective and goal-setting practices when designing teaching activities. Moreover, driven by these findings, we emphasised the significance of aiding instructors to provide timely assessment to students' written reflections so as to further ameliorate students' reflective abilities. Therefore, we attempted to automate such assessments using five traditional machine learning algorithms and one deep learning approach based on Bidirectional Encoder Representation of Transformers (BERT), and discovered that BERT gave the best performance in terms of identifying reflective sentences and differentiating various reflective elements.

Effects of a blended multimedia teaching approach on self-efficacy and skills in over-the-counter medication counselling versus a lecture-based approach: protocol for a prospective cohort study of undergraduate students from a pharmacy school in Taiwan

IntroductionAddressing communication skills in pharmacy curricula is one of the effective tactics to equip future pharmacists with better skillsets for medication counselling. To achieve this, blended teaching of PowerPoint slides...

Microlearning activities improve student comprehension of difficult concepts and performance in a biochemistry course

IntroductionStudents must rapidly learn and retain fundamental basic science knowledge in a doctor of pharmacy curriculum. Active learning stimulates engagement, reinforces concept understanding, and promotes retention of knowledge. The purpose this study was to determine if introducing game-based active recall and critical thinking microlearning activities improved student comprehension of challenging concepts, exam performance, and successful completion of a biochemistry course. MethodsMicrolearning activities were generated using Articulate Storyline software. Questions and problems were embedded in gamification-type activities to reinforce challenging biochemistry concepts and improve critical thinking. Activities were published on Blackboard and student performance was recorded. Students were divided into performance groups using their first exam scores. Student's exam scores were related to results from corresponding microlearning. Statistical analysis of results was performed to compare exam results with outcomes of microlearning activities. ResultsStudent performance on exams and final scores positively correlated with successful completion of microlearning activities. Students who successfully completed more microlearning activities performed significantly better on all exams in comparison with students who completed few microlearning activities. Students who initially struggled with the material but completed more microlearning improved their performance on exams and passed the course with a higher score. In contrast, students who struggled and completed fewer activities failed to improve their exam and course performance. ConclusionsActive recall and critical thinking microlearning activities enhanced knowledge retention and comprehension of challenging biochemical concepts. Microlearning scores positively correlated with student exam performance in a biochemistry course, especially amongst students struggling with the material.

An Online, Multi-institutional Debate on Diabetes Medications by Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience Students

Objective. The purpose of this study was to evaluate changes in advanced pharmacy practice experience (APPE) students' knowledge and to measure student perceptions of an online, multi-institutional debate curriculum as an alternative to a journal club to improve critical thinking skills related to diabetes medications.Methods. All APPE students assigned to four faculty (n=37) at three different colleges during the 2020-2021 academic year received instruction on diabetes medication classes and their cardiovascular outcome trials. Students debated via the Lincoln-Douglas format whether the preferred second-line therapies for patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus are either glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists or sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors. Matched pre- and post-APPE knowledge scores were measured using a seven-item assessment tool. A 22-item post-debate survey measured student perceptions of the activity.Results. Pre- and post-APPE knowledge scores were compared in 32 students, yielding an 86% response rate. Knowledge scores improved 32% (59% pre vs 87% post). Thirty-three students completed the perceptions survey, yielding an 89% response rate. Students reported that the debate activity was beneficial (100%) and rated it more effective than a journal club at improving critical thinking skills and knowledge retention.Conclusion. Preliminary results suggest that incorporating an online, multi-institutional debate as an alternative to journal clubs during APPE rotations was well received. Further research is warranted on the impact of the multi-institutional debate and how to best deliver it during the APPEs of a pharmacy curriculum.

Challenging the current pharmacy curriculum: why a focus on digital health can lead to innovations in the future of pharmacy

Challenging the current pharmacy curriculum: why a focus on digital health can lead to innovations in the future of pharmacy

How to integrate the Pharmacy Game in your Pharmacy Curriculum?

How to integrate the Pharmacy Game in your Pharmacy Curriculum?

PEARL: Pharmacy Education Applied to Resident Learners.

Emergency medicine residents typically train with the support of emergency medicine pharmacists (EMP), but many EM residents will practice in post-graduation settings without EMP assistance. Therefore, a novel pharmacy curriculum for postgraduate year-1 (PGY-1) EMRs was developed, implemented, and assessed. We performed a controlled study of 25 residents from two separate EM programs in Detroit, MI. One program was the control group and the other program was the intervention group. The primary outcome was pre- and post-curriculum knowledge assessment scores, and the secondary outcome was pre- and post-curriculum, self-perceived knowledge survey responses. We performed statistical analyses with Welch's t-test or the Mann-Whitney U test. The pre-curriculum assessment scores (41% ± 11; 41% ± 8.1; P = 0.96; mean ± SD) and average pre-curriculum survey responses (2.8 ± 0.92; 3.0 ± 0.60; P = 0.35) were not statistically different between the control and the intervention groups. The post-curriculum assessment scores (63% ± 14; 74% ± 8.3; P = 0.04) and the average post-curriculum survey responses (4.2 ± 0.61; 5.0 ± 0.74, P = 0.02) were statistically different. The increase from the pre- to post-curriculum assessment scores (24% ± 11; 33% ± 11; P = 0.05) was also significantly different. The implementation of a novel pharmacy curriculum for PGY-1 EM residents resulted in improved knowledge of and comfort with pharmaceuticals and therapeutics specific to EM practice. The impact on patient care and frequency of medical errors requires further investigation.

Palliative care education in an Australian undergraduate pharmacy curriculum: an exploratory descriptive study.

To examine the self-perceived knowledge, confidence and preparedness of undergraduate pharmacy students to provide palliative care. A descriptive exploratory analysis was conducted in 2021 at an Australian university involving final-year pharmacy students (n = 200) who were provided with the opportunity to complete a survey on self-perceived knowledge, confidence and preparedness overall and with respect to a range of graduate capabilities which are essential to provide care in palliative care settings. Key capability areas include: communication, showing empathy, making clinical judgements and self-reflection. This was measured using the Palliative Care Curriculum for Undergraduates Questionnaire which was distributed electronically. Descriptive statistics were undertaken and Mann-Whitney U tests were used to explore any differences in outcomes with respect to factors related to demographics, personal experience and education. Thematic analysis was utilised for qualitative data. Forty-five percent of the student cohort (n = 89) responded, 70% of whom were female, and the median age for students was 22 years. Median scores (interquartile range) were modest for overall self-perceived knowledge: 5.0 (3.0-5.0), confidence: 4.0 (3.0-5.0) and preparedness: 4.0 (2.5-5.0). Students who had participated in learning about palliative care through clinical placements (n = 25, 28%), self-directed learning activities (n = 18, 20%) or case-/problem-based learning (n = 14, 16%) demonstrated a statistically significant increase in overall preparedness (P = 0.017), confidence with specific capabilities including evidence-based practice (P = 0.013), responding to medication queries (P < 0.05) and managing symptoms other than pain (P = 0.018). Findings suggest students were confident to manage symptoms and medication-related issues but less confident to address distress or discuss sensitive matters with patients and their families. There may be a need for greater exposure and practical experience in palliative care settings.