An Evidence-based Medicine Elective Course to Improve Student Performance in Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences

Objective. To implement and evaluate the impact of an elective evidence-based medicine (EBM) course on student performance during advanced pharmacy practice experiences (APPEs).Design. A 2-hour elective course was implemented using active-learning techniques including case studies and problem-based learning, journal club simulations, and student-driven wiki pages. The small class size (15 students) encouraged independent student learning, allowing students to serve as the instructors and guest faculty members from a variety of disciplines to facilitate discussions.Assessment. Pre- and posttests found that students improved on 83% of the core evidence-based medicine concepts evaluated. Fifty-four APPE preceptors were surveyed to compare the performance of students who had completed the EBM course prior to starting their APPEs with students who had not. Of the 38 (70%) who responded, the majority (86.9%) agreed that students who had completed the course had stronger skills in applying evidence-based medicin...