Today’s pharmacists are far more than health professionals trained to dispense drugs; they are an integral part of a patient’s health care team.

Tasked with understanding more prescription drugs, vitamins, and herbal supplements than ever before, pharmacists must also be familiar with standards of treatment for many common illnesses, such as asthma and diabetes. They must also be able to anticipate possible interactions among drugs, foods, and medical conditions.

To keep up with the changing demands of the pharmacy profession, the University of Iowa College of Pharmacy has launched a new curriculum—the previous course of study had been in place for 20 years.

The new Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) curriculum—dubbed the Learning and Living Curriculum—is about instilling knowledge, as well as preparing students to be effective decision makers, team players and communicators. The idea is to prepare students to provide care that is multi-disciplinary, patient-centered, and team-based.

The new curriculum began this fall with first-year Pharm.D. students and will roll out over the next three academic years.

Mike Kelly, associate dean for professional education at the UI’s College of Pharmacy, says the new curriculum is more about a “change of delivery” than a transformation of content. More courses are team-taught, and students work in groups more often than they do individually.

“We created a curriculum with a student-centered approach to teaching,” Kelly says. “There is also a greater emphasis on professionalism and discovery through research.”

Unique elements of the Learning and Living Curriculum include: 

• Professional Engagement—a two-week, one-credit course for first-year Pharm.D. students that begins one week before the fall semester. Sessions include an orientation, professional and self-development classes, patient-screening training, a day of service, and mentoring and networking events
• Aligned Component Course series (ACCs)—Classes will now be organized by disease state and will be team-taught. Having stand-alone courses, such as Pathology (disease causes and their behaviors) and Pharmacology (the uses, effects, and modes of actions of drugs) with one instructor, a particular disease state will be used as the theme to tie former stand-alone subjects together. 
• Active learning strategies—Students will be given pre-class assignments that teach them concepts, while in class, they delve more deeply into the material, often in small groups. Students will apply, analyze, and evaluate the material with the help of the teacher and their peers. 
• Inter-professional education—Pharmacy students will collaborate with fellow health sciences students to learn about other professions and high-functioning health-care teams.  
• Greater ability to specialize—The new program will allow more flexibility for students seeking dual degrees and additional specializations.

Donald Letendre, dean of the UI College of Pharmacy, believes health care professionals are inherently lifelong students; so, it’s important that any pharmacy curriculum is conducive to change.

“Our avant-garde curriculum is forward-thinking, student-centric, and fully adaptable to addressing students’ interests and needs,” he says.

Kelly says the new curriculum and teaching methods will allow students to develop critical thinking through more active learning.

“There’s less sage-on-the-stage and more faculty working alongside students, facilitating the learning,” he says.

Another key feature of the new curriculum is called “Professional Discovery,” which includes team-based, long-term research projects that help students develop their collaborative, leadership, and research skills.

“Fewer than 25 percent of pharmacy schools include a Professional Discovery component in their curriculum, but there is clear evidence that it improves student success,” says Professor Emerita Hazel Seaba.

Kate Zakrzewski, a first-year Pharm.D. student from Davenport, says the two-week Professional Engagement course eased her transition to the college and opened her eyes to the possibilities of her profession.

“I was exposed to many professors, organizations, and career options in the field of pharmacy,” she says. “I also had the chance to meet and get to know many of my classmates before classes started.”