The Educational and Course Objectives Survey 2004/2005:
Methods, Results, and Conclusions
College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
Academic Affairs Committee
The Academic Affairs Committee was asked to lead a curricular mapping exercise during the 2004-2005 academic year to determine potential areas of change for the pharmacy curriculum. During the November 2004 faculty meeting, the previously approved PharmD Educational Goals and Objectives (Appendix A) were ratified and used as the basis for the mapping project.
METHODS:
The Academic Affairs Committee reviewed the AACP 2004 Educational Objectives prepared by the Center for the Advancement of Pharmaceutical Education (CAPE) and compared those objectives with those of the Doctor of Pharmacy Program to determine if there were any aspects of the CAPE Outcomes that were not covered through the Educational Goals and Objectives. It was determined through this process (Appendix B) that the CAPEOutcomes were adequately covered by the program’s Educational Objectives.
To gather information regarding the course objectives in each course, the Academic Affairs Committee provided worksheets to the course coordinators of required Doctor of Pharmacy courses to determine 1) the educational objectives covered in each course, 2) the level at which the course objectives are being taught (using Bloom’s taxonomy classifications in the Cognitive, Affective, and Psychomotor domains), and 3) the amount of time spent on each course objective, used to determine the amount of time spent on each educational objective across the curriculum. The main goal of the worksheet survey was to map the current PharmD curriculum course objectives to our stated program educational objectives.
The TrueOutcomes software system was used to document the course objectives and their corresponding program educational objectives. An Excel spreadsheet with charting capabilities was used to compile the Bloom’s taxonomy classifications and percentage of the curriculum spent on each Program Educational Objective.
The cumulative data for the entire 3 year PharmD curriculum was analyzed, and then the data was subdivided into individual curriculum years (P1, P2, P3) for further analysis. Because the Phar 173/174 course sections are not completed by every student, they were not included in this analysis. Also excluded were professional elective courses and Bio 128.
Caveats to this process exist, namely that the levels at which the courses are taught, as well as the estimates of the time spent, are all estimates and are self-reported by the faculty members themselves.
RESULTS:
The following chart shows the courses mapped to the various educational objectives of the College and the courses that apply to those outcome areas.
The following table was constructed by counting the number of courses that have at least one objective at the following levels.
Number of courses taught at each level
YEAR / AFFECTIVE / COGNITIVE / PSYCHOMOTOR1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5
P1 / 1 / 2 / 2 / 2 / 1 / 6 / 6 / 10 / 5 / 2 / 1 / 1
P2 / 4 / 5 / 5 / 7 / 1 / 2 / 4 / 1 / 1 / 2
P3 / 2 / 1 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 6 / 5 / 3 / 5 / 2 / 1 / 1 / 1
2 / 10 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 15 / 17 / 26 / 15 / 12 / 16 / 4 / 2 / 5 / 5 / 9
The majority of the course objectives reside within the cognitive domain (knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, evaluation), with the affective domain (receiving, responding, valuing, organization, and value complex) next in frequency throughout the P1-P3 years. The psychomotor domain (perception, set, guided response, mechanism, complex overt reaction, adaptation, origination) is primarily covered during the P2 and P3 years.
When reviewing this information, the Academic Affairs Committee considered information about the domains as well as the levels that exist within them. It appears that for the most part, our course objectives increase in complexity as a student progresses through the curriculum, a topic recently discussed in the literature. “Courses that come earlier in the curriculum would operate at a more basic level whereas later courses would require students to perform at a professional entry level.” It is thus expected that students would eventually “move beyond the lower levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy (recall, comprehension) as they use their knowledge base to perform complex disciplinary tasks.” (Zlatic, 2005).
The percentage of time spent on each curricular objective:
Using the percent of time spent on each course objective, the time spent on each program educational objective was determined by considering the number of course credit hours and the educational objectives mapped to that particular course objective. If a course objective mapped to more than one program educational objective, the percent of time spent was divided by the number of objectives covered in that course objective.
Percent of Time spent on each Educational Objective*
*determined from the amount of time spent on each course objective and the particular educational objective that it was mapped to.
This chart shows the amount of time spent on each objective throughout the 3 years of the curriculum.
Program Education Objectives Most Frequently Covered in the Curriculum:
1. Given information about an individual patient, the graduate can gather, organize, analyze, and interpret data and information pertinent to drug therapy.
- Given information about an individual patient, the graduate can identify drug-related problems as well as offer and justify alternative solutions.
8.Given a scientific question, the graduate can identify, analyze, and evaluate health-related, professional and disciplinary information resources.
11. The graduate can demonstrate effective communication of ideas, information, and the results of problem-solving activities (i.e., decisions) to colleagues, other health professionals and patients.
Educational Objectives not covered in course objectives:
10.The graduate can explain the need for and benefits derived from systematic, cumulative research on problems of theory and practice.
18.The graduate can explain the benefits of advancing the knowledge, skills and values of the profession and the role that the individual pharmacist can play in that advancement.
- The graduate demonstrates the ability to assume leadership roles as appropriate in the college, the profession and in society.
Comments and questions discussed by the Academic Affairs Committee after reviewing this information:
- Program Educational Objective 19, which refers to leadership experiences and abilities does not have any time assigned to it from the objectives in required courses. Academic Affairs Committee members questioned whether there needed to be a didactic course objective that specifically addressed this objective, or if it might be something fulfilled through extracurricular activities or the rotation year. The Assessment Committee is in the process of developing a list of extracurricular activities/measurements that may provide evidence for the fulfillment of this objective. In addition, Educational Objectives 10 and 18 also do not have any time assigned to them from the required courses that are completed by all students. The Academic Affairs Committee discussed that these may need to be further reviewed to see if they are covered during the experiential year, are contained within extracurricular activities, or if they are duplicative with other program educational objectives.
- Does the level indicated by the objectives match the assessment in each course? This is an exercise that can best be determined by individual faculty members and the Committee encourages faculty to review their course objectives to determine if they are assessing students at the level implied in the course objective.
- Is it appropriate to have substantial amounts of time in the curriculum devoted to the program educational objectives 1, 2, 8 and 11? It is likely that most course objectives cover a portion of these outcomes, and may be appropriate that “all the course outcomes in this series, when taken together, would equal the college or program outcome” (Zlatic, 2005).
- Should the Program Educational Objectives be revised or would it be appropriate to use the Experiential Education Competencies as our overall program’s objectives? Consideration for this is discussed further in the action steps below.
Recommended Action Steps:
- Review the analysis completed a number of years ago to determine how the experiential year competencies map to the program educational objectives. It may be appropriate to have the conversation of using our experiential competencies to also serve as the program educational objectives instead of having two sets of outcomes/competencies in existence. The experiential competencies represent the knowledge, skills, and abilities that our graduates should have achieved upon graduation. This approach is in place at other institutions, is implied in “Revisioning Professional Education”, and is discussed as a direct measure of assessment in “Assessment Clear and Simple”. We would recommend that this review be completed during the Spring semester by the Academic Affairs Committee.
- Complete an analysis of the IDEA Evaluation reports to see what information is provided and if it is possible to map the educational objectives with the teaching objectives developed by the IDEA Center. We would recommend that this occur during the 2006-07 academic year, when two years of IDEA Center data is available from our courses.
- Complete an informal audit of students to provide feedback regarding the objectives and the level at which they are being taught. We would recommend that this occur during the Spring 2006 semester by the Academic Affairs Committee.
- Pursue content mapping to further determine topic omission and unnecessary redundancy. We recommend that this be a charge of the Academic Affairs Committee during the 2006-2007 academic year, when the topics included in the ACPE Guidelines will be available and can be used as a foundation for this mapping.
- Identify assignments that provide evidence of student achievement of the various course objectives. For example, an IPPE assignment where a student has to identify a problem, research therapeutic options, and communicate a decision could be an assessment of one or more of the program educational outcomes. The capability to do this is contained within the TrueOutcomes software system and faculty who have possible assignments for this activity are encouraged to discuss this possibility with one of the Academic Affairs Committee members.
- Once the CAPE Supplement is released (expected in late Spring 2006), review that document due to its inclusion of ability-based outcomes, based on content to clarify the current CAPE Outcomes.
References:
Walvoord, Barbara. Assessment Clear and Simple. Jossey-Bass, 2004.
Zlatic, Thomas D. Re-visioning Professional Education: An Orientation to Teaching. American College of Clinical Pharmacy, 2005.
Appendix A: Educational Goals and Objectives
of the
Professional Program in Pharmacy
Adopted by the Faculty; January 26, 1994
Revised by Faculty; November 21, 1997.
Reaffirmed by Faculty: November 19, 2004
These goals and objectives also serve as the program's objectives for the University's assessment program.
The purpose of the pharmacy professional program is to provide the graduate with the relevant knowledge base, skills, attitudes, ethics and values to engage in the entry-level practice of pharmacy. The curriculum is designed to provide the graduate with competence in these areas:
A. Problem solving and decision making. In order to provide pharmaceutical care, the pharmacist must have the skills of inquiry, abstract logical thinking and critical analysis to identify problems, make judgments and decisions based on available data, or identify additional needed data.
B. Management. Pharmaceutical care entails managing drug therapy, including developing and implementing care plans and measuring therapeutic outcomes. In addition, pharmacists manage personnel, supplies, practices, and departments. The effective and efficient delivery of pharmaceutical care requires the effective and efficient management of a pharmacy practice.
C. Life-long learning. Practice is a learning experience. The pharmacist must be able to learn from problem-solving experiences. Pharmacists must acquire a continuing flow of new knowledge. Life-long learning is dependent on the development of self-learning abilities and habits.
D. Communicating and educating. The pharmacist must communicate with colleagues, other professionals, and patients. Pharmacists, as members of society, communicate with other citizens about health. Pharmacists must have the basic knowledge, confidence, attitudes, and skills to read, write, listen, and speak effectively. Pharmacists must be able to deal effectively with dissent, being able to disagree articulately and persuasively about patients' therapies.
E. Policy formulation and professional governance. Pharmacists must be able to take active roles in shaping policies, practices, and future directions for the profession. Pharmacists must look beyond their immediate practice settings to the environment of pharmacy and the health care system. Pharmacists must be prepared to deal with issues of organization, financing, delivery, payment, access, quality, and regulation of drugs and pharmacy services. Pharmacists must be aware of methods of shaping change in the profession though policy formation in the public and private sectors.
F. Professionalism. Pharmacists must understand and accept their duties and responsibilities to patients, health care professionals, and their profession. Pharmacists are expected to have developed value systems and ethical standards that guide their behavior. Pharmacists must have a sense of the obligation they owe their patients and their duty to ensure that obligation is fulfilled.
For each of these areas, objectives - which can be measured or assessed - have been developed for purposes of evaluation. These are:
Solving Problems and Making Decisions
1.Given information about an individual patient, the graduate can gather, organize, analyze, and interpret data and information pertinent to drug therapy.
2.Given information about an individual patient, the graduate can identify drug-related problems as well as offer and justify alternative solutions.
3.Given information about a group or population, the graduate can analyze drug policies (formulary decisions, practice guidelines) and assess the implications for the group’s health status and use of resources (e.g., costs).
4.The graduate can evaluate clinical studies and analyze epidemiologic and demographic data to reach appropriate conclusions regarding a variety of issues ranging from the effectiveness of therapies to identifying areas of practice needs.
5.The graduate can compare and contrast various scientific methods and can explain the significance of their use in the discovery of knowledge.
Management
6.The graduate can develop, justify, and monitor pharmaceutical care plans.
7.Given a problem in managing (organizing, planning, directing and controlling) a pharmaceutical care system or and in using resources (human and financial), the graduate can develop and justify alternative solutions.
Life-long learning
8.Given a scientific question, the graduate can identify, analyze, and evaluate health-related, professional and disciplinary information resources.
9.Given a current issue facing the pharmacy profession, the graduate can outline a plan which would promote necessary changes in the profession and explain how this would affect the management of his/her career.
10.The graduate can explain the need for and benefits derived from systematic, cumulative research on problems of theory and practice.
Communicating and Educating
11.The graduate can demonstrate effective communication of ideas, information, and the results of problem-solving activities (i.e., decisions) to colleagues, other health professionals and patients.
12.The graduate can, as a responsible member of society, demonstrate effective communication of health issues to other citizens.
13.Upon being placed in a conflict situation, the graduate can respond appropriately to dissent.
14.The graduate can recognize and integrate into his/her practice issues related to communicating with patients and others whose culture is not Western and whose native language is not English.
Policy Formulation and Professional Governance
15.Given a health policy issue, the graduate can assess its implications for access, quality, and cost of health care and pharmacy services.
16.The graduate can explain the effects of societal and environmental factors on the provision and receipt of pharmaceutical care services.
17.The graduate can explain the roles that pharmacists play in the health care system, justify the value of their contributions and develop solutions for overcoming barriers facing pharmacy practice.
18.The graduate can explain the benefits of advancing the knowledge, skills and values of the profession and the role that the individual pharmacist can play in that advancement.
19.The graduate demonstrates the ability to assume leadership roles as appropriate in the college, the profession and in society.
Professionalism
20.The graduate can explain the duties and responsibilities of a pharmacist to his/her patients and apply these in every-day practice.
21.The graduate can articulate a personal value system and ethical standards that will guide their professional behavior and can ethically justify decisions or actions incongruent with the APhA Code of Ethics for Pharmacists.
Appendix B: Drake University COPHS PharmD Program Objectives and
AACP Center for the Advancement of Pharmaceutical Education (CAPE) Educational Outcomes 2004
CAPE OBJECTIVES
/ Drake University COPHS PHARM D PROGRAM OBJECTIVESPHARMACEUTICAL CARE Provide pharmaceutical care in cooperation with patients, prescribers, and other members of an interprofessional health care team based upon sound therapeutic principles and evidence-based data, taking into account relevant legal, ethical, social, economic, and professional issues, emerging technologies, and evolving biomedical, sociobehavioral, and clinical sciences that may impact therapeutic outcomes.
a. Provide patient-centered care.
i. Design, implement, monitor, evaluate, and adjust pharmaceutical care plans that are patient-specific and evidence-based. / 1. Given information about an individual patient, the graduate can gather, organize, analyze, and interpret data and information pertinent to drug therapy.
2. Given information about an individual patient, the graduate can identify drug-related problems as well as offer and justify alternative solutions.
6. The graduate can develop, justify, and monitor pharmaceutical care plans.
ii. Communicate and collaborate with prescribers, patients, care givers, and other involved health care providers to engender a team approach to patient care. / 11. The graduate can demonstrate effective communication of ideas, information, and the results of problem-solving activities (i.e., decisions) to colleagues, other health professionals and patients.