(212) A description of toolkits and resources used to inform curricular changes among US pharmacy programs

Objective : To describe the tools and resources pharmacy programs use to help evaluate curricular content and inform curricular change.

Methods: A survey was developed with 16 items related to the use of toolkits to plan topics taught in pharmacotherapy, pharmaceutical sciences, social and administrative science (SAS), and top 200/300 drugs and how the tools influence curricular content, overload, and changes resulting from their use. The survey was pre-tested before being finalized and administered through Qualtrics to assessment leads at 141 accredited pharmacy programs with up to five reminders, including personal reminders. Survey results were descriptively reported.

Results: The response rate was 49%. Schools most often use the ACCP Toolkit for pharmacotherapy guidance (73%), either ACPE Appendix 1 or no specific tool to guide pharmaceutical sciences (37% for both) and SAS (36% and 33%) topics, and Access Pharmacy (35%) for top 200/300 drugs. On average, programs agree that curricular toolkits are important in curricular design and that their institutions use toolkits effectively. Tools used for pharmacotherapy and top 200/300 drugs were perceived as helpful in managing curricular overload and frequently influenced time allocation and topic prioritization. Programs most often have moved required content into electives, removed required topics, and added required topics as a result of applying toolkits.

Conclusions: Curricular toolkits are important resources for pharmacy programs to evaluate and optimize curricular content, and manage curricular overload. Several disciplines do not have curricular toolkits, which may be an opportunity for professional groups to fill this gap.