Online doctor of pharmacy program for pharmacy practitioners: Development and evaluation of six pilot courses

American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, Fall 2000 by O'Neil, Christine K, Poirier, Theresa I

Learner supports within the delivery of our program included a simple, standardized process for all courses. An orientation session prior to the start of coursework provided the student with an opportunity to use the software. Guidelines for hardware requirements were provided to standardize student and faculty computers and minimize compatibility problems. All pharmacotherapy courses followed a standard template for the syllabus and general course structure. This aided the participants in their approach to study the material. Exams and chats were scheduled to allow for advance planning. The use of FirstClass course management software allowed for posting announcements and instructions, e-mail between faculty and participants, chat rooms, and posting of course material and assignments. The history feature of this software allowed instructors to track students' access to course folders. In many cases this allowed instructors to identify students that may be having difficulty with the technology or material. Students were routinely provided with instructions in case of technology failure.

Learner supports were also provided within the content of the course. Use of the student own site-specific cases allowed for increased application of course material to the real world. Based on student comments, we feel this enhanced student's motivation and confidence by building on relevant personal experiences. In order to create a sense of community, students were encouraged to communicate with each other online using private chat or the open forum of FirstClass.

Faculty support for the students was provided through the use of immediate feedback via e-mail, a mentoring program, and online office hours. A special chat session with the dean also provided a sense of community. To assure that faculty members were equally prepared for online teaching, they were required to attend an orientation session regarding the use of online instruction and FirstClass. Additionally the program administrator met with all faculty members involved in the project to assure compliance with the proposed structure of the program and assisted them with the conversion of their course material to an online format.

Based on the preliminary results of our pilot project, we demonstrated that this type of program was successful in enhancing knowledge and participants' perceived preparedness to provide specialty pharmaceutical care services. However, this does not necessarily correlate with the ability to perform such services. Ideally direct observation of proficiency would be the ultimate marker of success. Test scores of knowledge improved significantly after completion of the courses. By the end of the project, participants felt they were very well prepared to provide cardiovascular services such as blood pressure monitoring and conduct smoking cessation programs, had fair to good preparations for blood glucose, cholesterol and peak flow monitoring, and fair preparation for H. pylori screening.