(197) Under Pressure: Incorporating Social Determinants of Health in Teaching Hypertension in a Cardiovascular Pharmacotherapeutics Course

Objective : The objective of this research project is to determine by survey and graded assignment, the impact on faculty perceptions and student perceptions, opinions, confidence, understanding, and knowledge of integrating social determinants of health (SDOH) topics into cardiovascular pharmacotherapeutics courses within two PharmD programs.

Methods: In this IRB-approved multi-institute study, students at Wilkes University and Roosevelt University completed a pre-intervention survey to evaluate perceptions, opinions, and attitudes regarding SDOH and the impact on cardiovascular health. After completing the pre-intervention survey, students attended a lecture provided by course faculty about clinical management of hypertension incorporating SDOH. Students were required to read an accompanying article and answer guided reflection questions. After completion of the assignment, students completed a post-survey. This assignment was part of standard curricular work. Students were excluded from the study if they were unable to provide informed consent or if they failed to complete both pre- and post-surveys. Faculty participants self-identified perceptions, challenges, and workload through a reflective journal. SPSS was used to complete statistical analyses. Open-ended survey responses were analyzed with descriptive statistics. Mean composite survey scores were calculated by category and compared with a Wilcoxon signed-rank test.

Results: Implementation of the surveys and assignments was completed by October 2022. Final results will be presented during the 2023 Annual Meeting.

Conclusions: This project provides a practical example of incorporating diversity, equity, and inclusion concepts into core clinical content without significantly adding to faculty workload. This educational approach to incorporating SDOH provides a model that could be easily replicated in other PharmD programs to help students make connections between health outcomes and SDOH.