'The bus analogy': A new analogy to help pharmacy students conceptualize the well-stirred model

To determine whether an analogy relating a city bus to the well-stirred model for high extraction drugs administered intravenously improves pharmacy students' self-perceived and objectively-assessed understanding.

Fifty-two entry-to-practice pharmacy students enrolled in an elective clinical pharmacokinetics course completed a questionnaire and quiz before and after the bus analogy presentation. Pre- and post test questionnaires consisted of five items measuring (on five-point unipolar scale) students' self-perceived understanding of the model. Pre- and posttest quizzes contained one case-based question requiring mathematical, graphical, and intuitive understanding. Student's paired t-test with unequal variances was used to compare pre- and posttest results.

The bus analogy significantly improved students' self-perceived understanding of the model for all questionnaire items (p<0.01 each) and students' pre- and posttest mean quiz results (p<0.0001).

The bus analogy significantly improved pharmacy students' understanding of the well-stirred model both subjectively and objectively, and should be an adjunct to pharmacokinetics curricula.