Advancing Pharmacy Education by Moving From Sequenced "Integration" to True Curricular Integration

Area of Science:

• Pharmacy Education
• Curriculum Development
• Higher Education

Background:

• Traditional pharmacy education often uses a siloed approach, with content delivered in separate courses.
• Expanding content and educational standards necessitate streamlining curricula for student pharmacists.
• Calls exist to simplify and integrate educational content to improve learning outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide recommendations for decreasing curriculum overload through truly integrated curricula.
• To explore various integrated approaches in pharmacy education.
• To discuss challenges and propose next steps for creating integrated curricula.

Main Methods:

• This study is an integrative review of existing literature on curriculum integration.
• It analyzes different methods of curricular integration, focusing on seamless content delivery.
• The review examines the potential benefits and challenges of integrated approaches.

Main Results:

• Most current curricular integration relies on sequenced courses or integrated cases.
• True integration involves seamlessly combining disciplines for efficient learning and reinforcement.
• Limited data and examples exist for these highly integrated models.

Conclusions:

• Truly integrated curricula have the potential to decrease content overload in pharmacy education.
• Further research is needed to determine if integration improves curricular outcomes and student learning.
• The Academy should investigate the impact of integrated content on efficiency and streamlining curricula.