(218) Comparing Three Pedagogically Different Foundational Pharmaceutical Calculations Courses Across Three Colleges of Pharmacy

Objective : The primary objective of this study is to describe the pedagogy and assessment strategies used in foundational calculations courses across three schools of pharmacy. Secondary objectives are to compare differences in student satisfaction survey responses and assessment data across all three schools.

Methods: The pedagogy and assessment of first-year, foundational pharmaceutical calculations courses were compared and discussed among investigators at the three schools of pharmacy. Differences in course design, content delivery, and knowledge assessment were identified. A survey was created that incorporated the unique aspects of each school’s calculations course, in order to gauge student satisfaction about the different approaches to teach and assess pharmaceutical calculations. After IRB approval, this anonymous survey was given to first-year pharmacy students following the completion of their calculations course. Aggregated assessment data was reported for each school for completeness and transparency.

Results: Content delivery varied between all three schools from completely synchronous, to completely asynchronous, to a hybrid delivery model. Students across all three schools demonstrated the highest preference for pedagogical approaches that include dedicated class time to work on problems, access to practice problems and a practice exam with answers, and having access to calculations materials in their learning management software throughout their entire PharmD curriculum. The use of bi-weekly quizzes/homework and a midpoint and final exam were preferred to other assessment strategies.

Conclusions: The results of this study describe three different foundational pharmaceutical calculations courses, all of which contain different pedagogical elements which students found helpful. These results provide pharmacy schools with multiple viable formats for calculations courses during this vital time when the NAPLEX has just been revised and national passing rates are at a low.