Design and implementation of a molecular imaging elective for third-year pharmacy students

Abstract

Objective: To design, implement, and evaluate a molecular imaging elective course that would expose Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) students to fundamentals of various imaging modalities and their pre-clinical and clinical applications.

Methods: The "Surveys of Multi-Modality Imaging" course is a two-credit hour elective course offered to third-year PharmD and doctoral students. Experiential learning methods including active learning application-based exercises were used to supplement didactic lectures in the form of field trips (with follow-up debriefings), small group team-based tasks, hands-on demonstrations, visual modelling, gamification with problem sets, concept maps regarding given modalities, and concluding with written summary reports and formal in-class group presentations. In addition to standard course evaluations, a pre- and post-course survey were conducted to assess the students' confidence regarding course content.

Results: Since its implementation in 2013, 101 students have completed the course with 72% being PharmD students (n = 73) and the remainder being doctoral students in pharmaceutical science (n = 28). Pre- and post-assessments completed by the students the last two offerings (n = 40 of a possible 43) indicated a shift in students' self-reported confidence in discussing imaging modalities from a total of 2.4% confidence (pre-course) to 97.4% confidence (post-course). Also, post-course survey indicated that 77.5% (n = 31 of 40 participants) students strongly agreed that our immersive and experiential learning activities were beneficial to overall learning for this elective.

Conclusion: Students who participated in this innovative experiential learning-grounded course gained an appreciation for molecular imaging and its value and role in modern drug therapy.

Keywords: Active learning; Elective; Experiential learning; Molecular imaging; Pharmacy education.