An Elective Course for Student Pharmacists on Pharmaceutical Industry Practice

Objective: To describe the design and implementation of an elective course on pharmaceutical industry practice.Methods: This was a 2-credit hour, elective course offered to 2nd and 3rd year student pharmacists during the 2015 and 2016 spring semesters. The goal of this course was to provide instruction regarding skills and competencies for pharmaceutical industry practice. Curricular content included didactic instruction, assigned readings, weekly quizzes, classroom discussion of industry based functions and responsibilities, and three application projects. Furthermore, a 65-item survey was developed to assess changes in student pharmacists’ perceptions and understanding of pharmaceutical industry practice.Results: A total of 44 students enrolled in the class over the study period. The overall course evaluation was 4.7 out of 5. Average scores on graded quizzes were 90%, and ranged from 92% to 99% for the application projects. There was an increase in the number of students who perceived that they underst...