(136) Drug Information Curriculum and Instructional Methods: Updated Survey of US Pharmacy Schools

Objective : Although drug information seeking and interpretation skills are included in pharmacy education standards and outcomes, instructional content and delivery methods vary among institutions. The purpose of this survey was to characterize current drug information-related education among US colleges of pharmacy.

Methods: In December 2022, a survey detailing drug information course content and structure was emailed to 140 US colleges of pharmacy. The survey was created using questions from a prior survey (Phillips et al 2012) and additional questions that were generated based on recent literature on pharmacy education.

Results: Sixty-three responses were included in the final analysis (45% of invited institutions). Of the 18 drug information topics of interest, 12 were included in curricula of almost all responding institutions. Twenty colleges reported that didactic drug information content is taught in a required stand-alone course, while 13 colleges reported that drug information content is combined with content on literature evaluation. Many colleges (54%) report that active learning techniques are used in 26-50% of class time. In the last 5 years, 35 colleges reported a decreased emphasis on teaching in-print resources and 24 colleges reported an increased focus on teaching literature evaluation/statistical analysis skills. Respondents stated that the most challenging topics for students are summarizing basic biostatistics and research design methods, critically evaluating medical literature, and creating effective and efficient literature search strategies. Most institutions reported no permanent changes in methodology, delivery, or evaluation of drug information education resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Conclusions: Drug information education has evolved in recent years among US colleges of pharmacy. Our survey results characterize current curricular approaches to drug information content and identify topics with continued opportunity for improvement.