(95) Longitudinal Curriculum Design Improves Long-term Retention of Pharmacogenomics Knowledge

Objective : All educational strategies on pharmacogenomics teaching have strengths and limitations. Hence, we propose a longitudinal curriculum design using two different teaching strategies across two sequential semesters to improve pharmacogenomics teaching.

Methods: Four lectures on pharmacogenomics were offered to professional year 3 (P3) pharmacy students during fall semester. During the spring semester, students participated in two skills laboratories followed by an implementation project. Knowledge was assessed through a written exam following the fall lectures. Students’ perspectives were collected by electronic questionnaire prior to, immediately after, and 3 months after the lectures and laboratories.

Results: The average written exam score was 79% (54%-96%). Students’ perceptions were assessed using a 1-5 Likert scale and improved from 1.35 to 3.63 following the lectures. However, this number dropped to 1.94 after three months. One-way ANOVA was initially done with p<.001 followed by Tukey multiple comparisons of means and pairwise t-test indicating significant difference among all pairs. After two labs, the students’ perspective about their clinical pharmacogenomics skills improved from 1.59 to 3.86. This number remained high at 3.68 three months later. One-way ANOVA was done again with p<.0001 followed by Tukey multiple comparisons of means and pairwise t-test indicating no significant difference between right after lab and 3 months after lab.

Conclusions: Combination of lecture and laboratory teachings offered in two sequential semesters improves student perceptions about their clinical pharmacogenomics skills. This curriculum design not only provides long-term retention of knowledge but also could be easily adopted by other schools.