Teaching Independent Decision-Making Through a Computer-Based Drug Utilization Review Simulation.

Background: Drug utilization review (DUR) skills are important for pharmacists across all settings. Computer-based DUR simulations to teach student pharmacists are currently scarce. This article describes a computer-based DUR simulation that required limited faculty and financial resources and was implemented in collaboration among 3 institutions. Objective: To describe the innovation of a computer-based DUR simulation and its impact on pharmacy students' knowledge and confidence of DUR skills. Methods: This pre-post educational study assessed a computer-based DUR simulation that replicated the DUR process in dispensing systems. First- and third-year pharmacy students at 3 institutions were guided through simulated patient cases with various medication-related problems. The self-paced activity provided students with immediate, formative feedback and rationale for each option after an attempt was made in lieu of faculty intervention. Students completed pre-and post-assessments to evaluate changes in knowledge and confidence. Knowledge was assessed by comparing results of multiple choice and matching questions on the pre- and post-assessments. Confidence was assessed by the change in self-reported confidence scale measurements. Results: Students at all institutions (N = 405) had nonsignificant changes in knowledge scores from the pre-assessment to the post-assessment, with the exception of 1 question. All confidence survey questions significantly improved from pre- to post-assessment. Conclusion: The DUR educational innovation had a nonsignificant overall impact on students' knowledge but significantly improved confidence in their abilities. Skills-based instruction provides additional practice to increase student confidence.

Counting on Change: Conquering Challenges in Teaching Pharmaceutical Calculations.

All pharmacists are expected to accurately perform pharmaceutical calculations to ensure patient safety. In recent years, there have been trends in declining performance on the North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination related to calculations. Understanding the cause of this decline and determining methods to correct underlying issues could benefit pharmacy administration, faculty, students, and patients. The aims of this commentary are to present the factors impacting the students' pharmaceutical calculations abilities, discuss the consequences of declining math skills, and provide a call to action for scholarship of teaching and learning pertaining to calculations, as well as increased administrative support to rectify this challenge.

Analysis of Laboratory Skills Curricula Surrounding Professional Identity Formation in Doctor of Pharmacy Students.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to describe how laboratory curricula in 6 pharmacy programs provides student pharmacist experiences to develop professional identity formation and explore personal identities. METHODS: Learning objectives for courses with laboratory components were independently reviewed and then reconciled to identify the associated historical professional identities, professional domains, and associated with personal identity from 6 pharmacy programs. Counts and frequencies for historical professional identities, domains, and personal identity associations were obtained by program and overall. RESULTS: Thirty-eight (2.0%) unique objectives were associated with personal identity. The most identified historical professional identity was healthcare provider (42.9%), followed by dispenser (21.7%). The highest professional domain identified was prepare/dispense/provide medications (28.8%) followed by communicate/counsel/educate (17.5%). CONCLUSION: Discordance between the historical identities and professional domains covered in the laboratory curricula was identified in this analysis. The prevalence of the "health care provider" professional identity in the laboratory curricula likely mimics what is currently seen in practice, but most lab activities fell under the domain of preparing and dispensing medication which may not be considered a component of healthcare provider professional identity. Going forward, educators must be intentional in the experiences we provide to students to help foster their professional and personal identity. Future research is needed to identify if this discordance is present in other classes along with research to identify intentional activities that can be incorporated to foster professional identity formation.