A shared assignment to integrate pharmaceutics and pharmacy practice course concepts

To demonstrate for first-year pharmacy students the relevance of pharmaceutics course content to pharmacy practice by implementing a joint, integrated assignment in both courses and assessing its impact.

Medication errors and patient safety issues relevant to ophthalmic and otic formulations were selected as the assignment topic. A homework assignment based on a mock court case involving a patient who was given an inappropriate formulation because of a pharmacist's medication error was given to students. The scenario was followed by essay and calculation questions linking physical pharmacy concepts with patient safety recommendations.

Students' average score on the crossover assignment was 88.7%. Minute papers completed before and after the assignment showed improvement in student learning. Students' scores on examination questions related to the assignment topic were significantly higher than the previous year's students' performance on similar questions. In a survey conducted at the end of the semester, 91% of students indicated that the assignment helped them relate the covered topics to future practice, and 98% agreed that the assignment emphasized the importance of the pharmaceutics in professional practice.

A crossover assignment was an effective means of demonstrating the connection between specific pharmaceutics concepts and practice applications to pharmacy students.