Collaborating with Pharmacy Faculty and Fellows to Improve Student Experience with Drug Information

Background: Librarians and pharmacy faculty both train pharmacy students to become experts in answering drug information questions. Since the summer of 2017, a librarian, pharmacy faculty member who specializes in drug information, and the drug information fellows have used a model of continuous improvement to increase the efficacy of drug information instruction embedded in the pharmacy curriculum. They have collaborated to improve consistency of information presented to students through their respective instructional activities, including a drug information course and skills laboratory sessions. They also collaborate with faculty throughout the pharmacy professional program to ensure students receive evidence-based medicine throughout the curriculum.


Description: In this session, you will hear from all three perspectives (librarian, faculty member, and a fellow) about how they are involved in drug information and health information literacy throughout the pharmacy curriculum. Together, we have formed an evidence-based medicine team that actively collaborate with each other in teaching and research. Importantly, this collaboration has resulted in more consistency of how drug information is presented throughout the curriculum and has resulted in opportunities to work with students throughout the entire program through a combination of required and elective courses.


Conclusion: Through the nature of continuous improvement, there is no end date, however to date the collaboration between pharmacy faculty and a health sciences librarian has resulted in multiple improvements. Students are engaging more with drug information through an increased quantity and relevant activities during drug information lectures. This collaboration has also resulted in more consistent information and resources being shared with students across multiple classes. Ongoing projects related to this collaboration include a scholarship of teaching and learning project evaluating the impact of a new drug information activity in a skills laboratory session and students' performance on a drug information assignment and incorporation of more library instruction in drug information related classes.