(180) Survey of Curricular Hoarding Throughout United States Schools and Colleges of Pharmacy

Objective : Over the past few years, concerns about an expanding curriculum have permeated pharmacy education. Schools must make decisions about breadth and depth of content while striving to adequately prepare students for entry into pharmacy practice. As part of the 2022-2023 AACP COF - Curriculum Committee Chair Learning Community, we were charged with exploring curricular adaptations to address curricular hoarding and explore strategies that programs may use to make effective decisions.

Methods: A component of these charges was to quantify perceptions of pharmacy educators pertaining to curricular hoarding. In the Spring of 2023, an IRB approved survey was sent to Deans, Associate Deans, and Department Chairs of Schools and Colleges of Pharmacy.

Results: A total of 159 individuals completed the survey from 92 programs (64.8%) throughout the nation. More than two-thirds of respondents indicated it was a topic of conversation, but no formal strategies had been put in place to combat curricular inefficiency. Eighty three percent of respondents felt that students at their institutions expressed concern about the quantity of material they are required to learn. Common themes emerged from respondents on strategies being employed, including use of the ACCP Pharmacotherapy Toolkit, the creation of workgroups and backward course design.

Conclusions: Our results indicate that although ideas have been suggested, many programs are waiting for more guidance on methods to address the issue. Results of the survey were subsequently used to guide charges of the 2023-2024 Curriculum Committee Chair Learning Community which include development of methods to address curricular hoarding and collaboration with foundational science sections to develop a toolkit that institutions may use in a similar manner as the ACCP toolkit.