PharmAlliance – Education Domain Core Concepts Session

A PharmAlliance group of educators have been working for two years to develop the basic science core concepts that underpin that practice of pharmacy. We adapted methodology from work in physics, biochemistry and physiology education. We asked educators from national societies (APSA, ASCEPT and BPS) to identify concepts that their graduates would be expected to retain, and be able to apply, 3-5 years after graduation. A draft list of 41 concepts has been developed in an initial series of surveys, completed by 37 educators in the field. A parallel data mining of concepts in key textbooks is underway, and will be used to refine that list. We are now ready for the second stage of survey to further refine that list of concepts, at which point we intend to propose these to learned societies, including FIP and IUPHAR, for endorsement. 

The refined and endorsed list of concepts really becomes useful to educators when a rigorously developed and evaluated inventory of multiple choice questions (MCQs) is available to all educators, as is the case with the physics “Force Concept Inventory”. A series of MCQs will be developed to test the understanding and application of each concept, with distractors chosen from known misconceptions supplied by educators and students. For example, a question about the concept of drug potency might include a distractor that states “drug X has high potency because it has high affinity” for an agonist drug with high affinity but low intrinsic efficacy. These concepts, and their rigorous assessment, allow educators to design curricula that enable students to attain these concepts.

Once an inventory is available for a community of educators, they can assess their students at entry and graduation, providing the first evidence-based indicator of learning gains that can inform teaching improvement and test innovative teaching approaches. The symposium in PharmAlliance month will be used to refine the concepts list, begin to identify misconceptions related to each concept, and involve the community in the development of the concept inventory. Educators will have the opportunity to join the project team. 

Speakers: Paul White, Tom Angelo, Jacqui McLaughlin, Mike Munday, on behalf of the Education Domain of PharmAlliance