(104) The Effectiveness of Pharmacokinetic Review in Student Success in a Nontraditional Doctor of Pharmacy Program

Objective : The objective of the study is to determine the effectiveness of the pharmacokinetic Preview Program in student success in a Nontraditional Doctor of Pharmacy Program.

Methods: This was a retrospective study at Howard University College of Pharmacy. We identified a total of six student cohorts. Three were pre-preview sessions, and the other three were post-preview sessions. The primary outcome of this study was to determine if the implementation of preview sessions would help improve students' performance. Independent t-test and Chi-square were used to compare the outcomes of the two groups.

Results: A total of ninety-four students were included in our study. Forty-five (47.9%) students were in the post-preview session groups. The exam results mean of the pre-preview session and post-preview session students was 80.1 and 83.4, respectively. This difference was not statistically significant (p-value 0.13, [95% CI -7.7389 - 1.0964]). A total of seven students failed their pharmacokinetic course in the pre-preview session group, and six students in the post-preview session group. The number of failures was not statistically significant (p-value 0.89).

Conclusions: The NTDP provides the opportunity for practicing licensed pharmacists with a Baccalaureate degree in pharmaceutical sciences to obtain their Pharm.D. degree without a major interruption of their professional careers. In our study, offering pharmacokinetic review sessions before the beginning of the semester did not significantly increase students' performance in exams.