Meeting the learning needs of senior citizens and nursing students through a community-based pharmacology experience

Senior citizens commonly take multiple medications and lack knowledge about proper use and side effects. They often have no access to health professionals to clarify any misconceptions about their medications. Nursing students often learn pharmacology in the classroom with no opportunity to apply the knowledge as it is learned. Within one community, a creative strategy was developed to meet the learning needs of both groups. At a local senior center, clients with drug-knowledge deficits or compliance difficulties were identified. Pharmacology nursing students were then assigned to collect drug histories from these clients. Following analysis of gathered data, students were required to develop individualized drug teaching tools for their assigned client. Through these activities, the learning needs of both groups were met.