Educators' experiences and perspectives on teaching pharmacy law

Laws regulate many aspects of pharmacy practice, helping ensure safe and appropriate care is provided. It is important, therefore, to teach pharmacy law effectively to students so they can practise legally (i.e. practice within the framework that pharmacy laws and regulations provide). However, the experiences, perspectives and content-related teaching practice (i.e. delivery of pharmacy law education) of pharmacy law educators has not been reported. Such information is pertinent to design learning experiences for pre-registration pharmacy students to gain knowledge around contemporary legal concepts relevant to pharmacy practice. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate educators' experiences and perspectives to inform future teaching of pharmacy law.

A qualitative approach was utilised. Participants were recruited via purposive and convenience sampling, and one-on-one semi-structured interviews examining educators' professional backgrounds and teaching experiences were conducted. Zoom® was used to generate audio recordings and transcripts. Data analysis was conducted using Braun and Clarke's thematic analysis process and NVivo® was used to identify codes in an inductive paradigm.

Five themes were identified within the data: philosophies around teaching, alignment of pedagogical approaches with learning goals, perceptions of students regarding pharmacy law, factors restricting pedagogical approaches, and experience in practice as a qualification. Participants outlined two distinct philosophies-one focused on law and one which additionally incorporated ethics along with law. Educators explained how they aligned pedagogical approaches with learning goals. Pharmacy law was reported to be viewed as dry, complex, unfamiliar and unimportant by students warranting strategies including case scenarios and content integration. University and faculty requirements and lack of time and staff affected teaching. Educators relied on practising as pharmacists to guide their teaching.

Various considerations and experiences specific to pharmacy law education were identified, including the need to teach it in a way tailored for pharmacy students. Pharmacy law appeared to be insufficiently prioritised in pharmacy programs.