Practicing pharmacist education based on the experiences of medical support on the cruise ship Diamond Princess

Passengers on the cruise ship Diamond Princess (DP), which departed Yokohama on 20 January 2020, were found to be infected with the new coronavirus after arrival in Hong Kong. Passengers and crew were not allowed to disembark, instead being quarantined on board; an onboard pandemic resulted. Many passengers were elderly and in need of medications; pharmacists and other professionals, including the author, were assigned to provide medical support (the author participated on two occasions). Many passengers were not Japanese nationals; those who required medicines not sold in Japan received analogs of medicines that are sold in Japan. Pharmacists were required to complete medication guidance documents (in English). The author considered that by using this experience as teaching material, pharmacy students would not only learn English but also become educated in terms of drug therapy.

The author created an exercise for second-year students at Teikyo University in which they were required to provide real-world medical support. The educational effects were measured by analyzing the answers to questionnaires completed before and after the exercise and 'Impressions of the exercise' homework.

Using real emergency events as a teaching tool enhanced students' motivation to learn English and pursue professional pharmacy education (the latter was scheduled to begin in earnest in the third year). At that time, the new coronavirus was poorly understood. The author's experiences taught students that medical workers are educated to offer care even when they are at risk of infection. Translation software (a form of artificial intelligence [AI]) was used to create medication guidance documents in English. The students learnt that if AI translations, i.e., medication guidance documents in English, were accepted at face value, they would be held responsible if the documents were in error.

By both listening to the author's lecture on a real-world medical support situation and completing an assignment, students learned many things that are difficult to teach via lectures alone, including the dangers arising when using AI technology in clinical settings and the mindset of medical professionals.