Incorporating a learning unit on vaccine hesitancy into a first-year doctor of pharmacy immunization course

Vaccine hesitancy is a growing threat to public health. The objective of this research was to investigate the effect of incorporating a learning unit on addressing vaccine hesitancy into a doctor of pharmacy immunization delivery course.

The learning unit, implemented fall 2019 at the University of Rhode Island, involved two interactive lectures and an at-home assignment. A family medicine physician spoke about her experiences with vaccine-hesitant families, and students viewed video scenarios depicting a pharmacist talking with vaccine-hesitant patients followed by an in-class discussion. Data was collected using pre- and post-surveys and a one-year follow-up survey.

Out of 125 students enrolled in the course, 121 completed the pre-survey, 113 the post-survey, and 120 the follow-up survey. For pre-/post-survey comparison questions, statistically significant improvements were seen in 9 of 13 items. The follow-up survey showed 83.4% of students had applied knowledge and 85.7% had applied skills gained from the learning unit.

Incorporating a learning unit on addressing vaccine hesitancy into a pharmacy immunization class resulted in improvements in student self-reported knowledge and comfort in talking with patients who are vaccine hesitant. Long-term use of self-reported knowledge and skills gained was seen one-year post-implementation.