Teaching resource
We have created science into practice course materials for schools of pharmacy, in collaboration with Dr Lea Ann Dailey and colleagues at the Pharmacy Department at King’s College London (KCL). The resource allows schools to incorporate actual “science-into-practice” problems into the undergraduate MPharm course. We presented the project at a meeting with all the Heads of Schools of Pharmacy, who encouraged us to make the materials available for adoption by schools.
The original driver for the project was the Science Committee of the Society, which realised that many pharmacy students and pre-registration pharmacists have difficulty connecting how the basic science they learn during their degree underpins their pharmacy practice. A project piloting the use of this resource was conducted at KCL. Student evaluations of the pilot were
highly favourable, while the academic staff was very pleased with the
levels of student involvement in and enthusiasm for the exercise.
Parts of these resources are suitable for students in the second and third year of the MPharm course although it will be most beneficial for final year students. The materials could be part of a standalone course as at KCL; or relevant scenarios could be incorporated into established course modules as exemplars or assignments. The problems contained in the resource are actual examples of “science-into-practice” problems, which serve to illustrate to the students how their scientific training will be of importance in solving problems they may encounter in their every day practice as pharmacists. Many of the problems have an ethical dimension, which enable the students to debate an appropriate course of action.