Practice of simulation-based learning of representative 8 diseases presented in the Model Core Curriculum for Pharmacy Education and its educational effects

Abstract

There are many reports on the sustainability of simulation-based learning in pharmacy schools, but few reports of its educational effects. In this study, 106 fourth-year pharmacy students at Kyushu University of Health and Welfare completed a survey before and after the simulation-based practical training. The simulation cases included cancer (chronic myelogenous leukemia), hypertension (essential hypertension), diabetes (hyper and hypoglycemia), heart disease (congestive heart failure), cerebrovascular disease (cerebrovascular hemorrhage [subarachnoid hemorrhage]), neuropsychiatric disorder (epilepsy), immune/allergic disease (anaphylactic shock), and infection (urinary tract infection), which were indicated representative 8 diseases presented in the 2013 Model Core Curriculum for Pharmacy Education. The simulation-based learning led to a significant increase of 40.0% to 67.8% of correct answers on a final written exam. Students usually gain knowledge through classroom lectures, but these results suggest that simulation-based education is also effective in acquiring pharmacotherapy knowledge.