DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF CRITICAL THINKING ASSIGNMENTS THROUGHOUT A PHARMACY CURRICULUM

A summer workshop on critical thinking, spread over two months with fo llow-up implementation allowed an extended period of time for faculty to clarify teaching goals and provide group support for implementing c hange. Seven faculty, representative of several pharmacy disciplines, clarified critical thinking outcomes for their courses, practiced this approach in a faculty workshop, and piloted the approach in the follo wing academic year. Written processes, visual models and class assignm ents were developed for Biochemistry-intermediary metabolism; Therapeu tics-psychiatric case study; Pharmacy Management-inventory; Pharmaceut ic-osmolality; Pathophysiology-congestive heart failure, Pharmaceutica l Analysis-glucose monitoring test; and Pharmacy Administration-practi ce issues. The faculty workshop commenced with a one-day session with an outside consultant. This was followed by a series of sessions where workshop participants discussed and practiced the skills necessary to teach critical thinking, and two sessions where each participant prep ared and presented a critical thinking process for a specific course. After feedback and discussion, each participant revised their critical thinking class assignments and briefly presented these at the final w orkshop session. The developed assignments were then pilot tested and evaluated throughout the following academic year. A full report of the results of the project was distributed to all schools of pharmacy whi ch are members of AACP.