The effectiveness of a systematic approach to the delivery of a drug literature evaluation course

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a systematic approach to delivery of a two-credit drug literature evaluation course and the students’ ability to critically evaluate the literature.

Methods: The course material was divided into topic sections which included study design, methodology, statistics, and analysis.  The semester was grouped into blocks and a different topic was presented in each block.  At the beginning of each block, students were provided with reflective exercises on the topics to be presented.  Following the presentation of material and student submission of the exercise, the answers were discussed in class. Application sessions were also incorporated in which students were given the opportunity to review selected portions of contemporary drug literature articles that pertained to the previous topic discussion. In addition, the students were given one article at the beginning of the course to review and answer a number of evaluation questions.  The students were then required to evaluate the same article at the end of the course. The intent was to illustrate skill development. Finally, an independent article assessment, which was distributed to the students in a randomized manner, was the capstone assessment for the course.  Students’ knowledge, confidence, and skills were evaluated via a pre and post assessment. 

Results: Surveys were distributed to the 165 students enrolled in the Drug Literature Evaluation course at the beginning and end of the course.  The surveys contained 11 likert questions and 3 open-ended questions. Data analysis is currently underway and will be completed in advance of the ACCP meeting.

Conclusion: To be presented following the completion of data analysis.