A Comprehensive Survey of Infectious Diseases Curriculum Among US Pharmacy Schools
Objective. To describe what and how infectious diseases (ID) topics are taught in US schools of pharmacy and summarize pharmacy faculty members’ and students’ perceived successes and challenges in teaching and learning about ID. Methods. A 23-item survey instrument was distributed electronically to ID faculty members at 137 US pharmacy schools. Data collected included curricular hours and format, topics covered, active-learning strategies, and curricular successes and concerns. Results. Surveys were collected from 106 schools (77% response rate). Infectious diseases curricula were allotted a median of 60 (IQR=40) hours of classroom time. Respondents dedicated 33% of curriculum hours to ID fundamentals and 66% to disease states. Greater than 94% of schools taught all tier one ID topics from the 2016 American College of Clinical Pharmacy Pharmacotherapy Didactic Curriculum Toolkit. Curricula were primarily delivered through traditional lectures rather than active learning (75% vs 25% of classroom time, respectively). The median number of active-learning strategies used was four (IQR=3). The most common active-learning modalities used either consistently or frequently were patient case application (98%) and audience response systems (76%). The most common successes cited by faculty members were implementation of active learning, the “real-world” applicability of the ID topics, and the breadth of topics and topic exposure covered in the curriculum. The most common concerns were a lack of time to cover material and the amount of material covered. Conclusion. Increased communication and collaboration between ID educators is warranted to increase consistency of ID education and distribution of educational innovations.