Poster Presentation 30th Lorne Cancer Conference 2018

Design and development of a new oncology unit of study in the new integrated Master of Pharmacy curriculum (#252)

Rebecca H Roubin 1 , Jane R Hanrahan 1
  1. Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

A new integrated Master of Pharmacy curriculum approaches the teaching of pharmacy from a more integrated perspective, rather than the previous discipline based approach. It is structured by themes and underpinned by a detailed set of learning outcomes, which describe the knowledge, skills and attitudinal milestones to be achieved each year and by the time of graduation. We have designed a new integrated oncology unit of study that covers the therapeutics of immunology & cancer including the pharmaceutical sciences that underpin such drug therapies. Through the use of case-based learning, students will participate in the interpretation, application and dissemination of pharmaceutical and pharmacotherapeutic concepts and knowledge. On completion of this unit of study students will be able to apply an understanding of the pharmaceutical sciences to optimising the drug and non-drug therapy of patients with cancer and immunological disorders. Interprofessional communication and the application of specialist knowledge to implementing pharmacist cognitive services such as clinical oncology interventions and/or medication management review will also be explored. Interprofessional learning role-plays will be used to develop students' communication skills for interaction between pharmacists and their clients (patients, doctors, nurses, other health professionals). This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of the new integrated Master of Pharmacy curriculum and the development of the new oncology unit of study. Unit of Study surveys (USS) collected feedback on the student experience at the unit of study level.  Its content is aligned with items/scales of the national course-level survey, the SES. There are ten quantitative items and two open response items. USS results improved for the Master of Pharmacy overall compared to the previous discipline based approach. The combined USS mean score for first year, was 4.05 for core items 1-6 and 4.09 for overall items 1-10. The new integrated Master of Pharmacy curriculum demonstrated favourable results compared to the previous discipline based curriculum and will be further developed in the new oncology unit of study.