(27) Collaborative Development and Implementation of a Pharmacotherapy Curriculum Within a Family Medicine Residency Program

Objective : To develop a pharmacotherapy curriculum for family medicine residents that integrates evidence-based education into the existing programmatic framework.

Methods: Curriculum was informed by medical coding and literature identifying prevalent conditions managed by the family medicine residency. Pharmacists and family medicine faculty collaborated to develop and deliver monthly pharmacotherapy education to medical residents in two unique formats and settings. Inpatient sessions were 30 minutes and entailed a flipped classroom model with interactive game-based learning and patient case scenarios. Educational sessions at the ambulatory care clinic were 45-minute formal presentations focused on guideline directed therapy and patient case scenarios. Educational content was repeated to expose residents to information 2-3 times throughout the three-year training program.

Results: Monthly education was offered to 101 family medicine residents from January 2018 through February 2024. Fifty-five inpatient education sessions covering 4 unique categories were provided by hospital (83.6%) and resident (16.4%) pharmacists. Seventy-six didactic lectures covering 20 unique categories were provided by individual hospital (44.7%), ambulatory care academic (31.6), and resident (17.1%) pharmacists. Five lectures (6.6%) were team taught by at least one pharmacist from each practice site. Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience students were involved in all education provided by ambulatory care academic pharmacists.

Conclusions: There is limited accreditation guidance on the scope of drug knowledge that residents should develop throughout post graduate medical education training. Curriculum creation and delivery required extensive pharmacist collaboration across practice sites. Education afforded heightened visibility, awareness of pharmacist contributions to patient care, and strengthened interprofessional relationships between pharmacists and residents. Additionally, residents gained drug therapy troubleshooting knowledge by seeing how pharmacists use drug databases in clinical practice.