Paradox or new thinking?

American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, Spring 2001 by Currie, Bruce L

Council of Faculties

Chairman's Section

Many times over the last ten years or so I have been struck with what I think is a paradox in curriculum development. I am referring to the progressive decrease in the number of laboratories in the pharmacy curriculum while on the other hand efforts are made to increase problem-solving experiences for students or implement problem-based learning. Students often learn best by doing and when they must actively think through the process while they are doing it, then they learn even better. Well designed laboratory experiences should provide this type of learning environment where students hone their observational skills, learn to follow directions, and respond to new situations by learning to solve problems. So if laboratory experiences are such a rich learning environment, then why are there fewer and fewer laboratories in the pharmacy curriculum? One can probably think of many reasons, but unfortunately most of them are not based on improving learning: laboratories are expensive, both in time and supplies; less emphasis on compounding in practice; changes in practice lessening the need to do drug analysis; pressure from animal rights organizations; curriculum change resulting in shifting credits from pharmaceutical sciences laboratories to therapeutics and experiences in rotations; etc. The last item regarding shifting credits has to do with the progressive change of the curriculum toward clinical pharmacy and pharmaceutical care, Much of what the students do when they are on rotations can be thought of as a "laboratory" experience where the students learn by doing, but the lack of more extensive prior laboratory experience creates other challenges, e.g., minimal prior experience with intravenous formulations and calculations before doing a hospital rotation results in being "lost" in the IV prep room; or learning the pharmacology of multiple classes of drugs without seeing the effects of the drugs in an animal model and understanding dose-response and individual variation before seeing the effects of drugs in actual patients and understanding variable responses and side effects. There are other detrimental outcomes as well, such as, declines in laboratories have lessened support for teaching assistants, and thus, support for graduate education in some schools and colleges.

On the other hand the higher education community is encouraging us to incorporate problem-based learning experiences in our curriculum and to develop critical thinking skills in our students. Is this an educational fad, is it something new or a new way of thinking, or is it an educational necessity due to the lack of laboratory experiences in the professional curriculum? We must deal with these questions as we continuously strive for the best possible educational preparation for our students to enter the profession and to practice pharmaceutical care.

Bruce L. Currie

College of Pharmacy, South Dakota State University, Box 2202C, Brookings SD 57007-0099