Integrated curriculum in the United States pharmacy programs

In the last decade, significant changes in pharmaceutical sciences have influenced the delivery of pharmacy education in Pharmacy programs. Integrated curriculum is one such method considered. We aimed to describe the perceived level of integrated curriculum among PharmD programs in the US.

From October 26th, 2021, until January 18th, 2022, faculty administrators across 138 US pharmacy colleges were surveyed. Data was collected regarding each program's perceived curriculum integration and assessment integration. Characteristics of each college, including region and the type of school (public/private), were obtained from the PharmCAS website. Programs were categorized into high-integration and low-integration groups for analysis purposes. Descriptive and comparative analysis by the level of curriculum integration was performed.

Overall, 60 colleges completed surveys (participation rate = 43.48%). Most schools were from the South region (38.33%) and public colleges (53.33%). The average perceived curriculum integration was 45% (SD = 23.69), while the average perceived assessment integration was 36% (SD = 25.52). Pharmacy practice [clinical sciences] (76.67%) was the most common discipline considered for integration, and the social and administrative sciences (21.67%) was the discipline least commonly considered for integration. Case-based learning (95%) was the most common pedagogy strategy to integrate knowledge from different disciplines.

Integrated curriculum implementation in the US PharmD programs varied across colleges. While most programs integrated their clinical practice courses, social and administrative sciences was the course least commonly integrated. Very limited progress in assessment integration was perceived.