Concept mapping to evaluate an undergraduate pharmacy curriculum

Objectives

To explore a pharmacy school curriculum for opportunities for student engagement and to determine how these might shape student identity as pharmacists.

Methods

The learning aims and objectives and methods of assessment from the curriculum of a bachelor of pharmacy (BPharm) program were collected and a concept map was generated. The concept map was interpreted using Barnett and Coates'' curricular domains of knowing, acting and being.

Results

The key concepts within the intended curriculum that were identified from the concept map were drugs, pharmacy, understanding, practice, and skills. Concepts such as patient and consumer, which would indicate a patient-centered approach to the curriculum, were limited. The main form of assessment used in the curriculum was multiple-choice and short-answer examinations.

Conclusion

There was an emphasis in the curriculum on student acquisition of knowledge and this was reinforced by the use of theoretical examinations. The content of the curriculum was drug-centered rather than patient-centered and the emergence of students'' identity as pharmacists may be fragmented as a result.