An Infographic Assignment to Translate Self-Care Therapeutics into Practical Application

Area of Science:

• Pharmacy Education
• Health Communication

Background:

• Traditional assessments in pharmacy education may not fully capture practical communication skills.
• Innovative teaching methods are needed to enhance patient care communication.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate an infographic assignment in an advanced self-care therapeutics course.
• To assess students' practical communication skills in patient care.

Main Methods:

• An infographic assignment ('Spotlight on Self-Care') was developed for pharmacy students.
• Students created three infographic deliverables for different audiences (healthcare professionals, patients, pharmacists).
• Assessments used rubrics focusing on clinical content, presentation, research, and visual elements.

Main Results:

• The infographic assignment demonstrated a unique skill profile in students, differing from multiple-choice exams.
• Top-scoring infographics were considered for publication in a professional pharmacy magazine.
• Infographics effectively translated clinical content into accessible communication formats.

Conclusions:

• Infographic assignments offer a valuable, diverse assessment method in pharmacy education.
• This approach supports practical application of self-care knowledge and communication skills.
• Future work should address grading efficiency and copyright detection for this assessment method.