Evaluating Curriculum Differences in US PharmD Programs: A Peer Evaluation

To evaluate the differences in curriculum structure and content and observe commonalities across various Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) programs in the United States.

This research involves the collection of course content and credit hour data from the curricula and course descriptions, course catalogs, and student handbooks of all the PharmD programs available on their websites and categorization based on the content areas outlined in the Accreditation Council of Pharmacy Education. The core courses, elective offerings, and experiential education (eg, Introductory and Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience) were evaluated using Excel® for credit hours, integration, non-integration, program duration (3-year vs 4-year), and online offerings.

Of 142 accredited schools/colleges, 135 were included in the study, which met the inclusion criteria. In total, 85 of these schools have an integrated curriculum, 19 have a 3-year curriculum, and 15 offer a distance learning pathway for a PharmD degree. Fourteen of the 37 required content areas from the Accreditation Council of Pharmacy Education Appendix 1 were identified, with more than 50% of schools listing no credit hours allocated. Only 9 areas had 90% or more of pharmacy schools allocating credit hours. On average, biomedical, pharmaceutical, social/administrative/behavioral, clinical sciences, experiential education, and electives allocate 10.6, 25.3, 17.1, 40.5, 45.5, and 7.0 credit hours, respectively.

Each school's curriculum has a significant variation in credit hours, and there is an opportunity to simplify the curricular structure and content by reducing redundancy and increasing flexibility based on health care needs.