Integrating Behavioral Economics in Pharmacy Education:Surveying Students' Knowledge and Interest

抄録

　Introduction: Behavioral economics (BE) has been applied to recent studies in the medical field. However, current pharmacy curricula do not include BE. This study aimed to introduce BE to pharmacy students and investigate their degree of knowledge of and interest in BE. We taught BE to pharmacy students and conducted a questionnaire survey. Methods: The research was conducted at a national university in Japan, where the authors are faculty members. The target class was “Advanced Topics in Clinical Pharmacy Research and Education,” which is optional for both undergraduate and graduate students. We taught three topics during a 90-minute class: “pharmacoeconomics,” “self-medication” (both already included in the current pharmacy curricula), and “behavioral economics.” Students responded to a questionnaire that investigated their knowledge before class and their evaluation of the class. Results: We received valid responses from 41 of the 51 students. Prior to the class, more than 90% of the students answered that they were not aware of three BE terms: nudge, prospect theory, and present bias. After the class, 92.7% answered that they were interested in BE, and 82.9% considered the topic useful for future research and work. Discussion: BE was a new concept to most sampled pharmacy students. Once introduced to it, however, they showed an interest in learning more about how to apply the subject in their field. Therefore, pharmacy schools might find it useful to incorporate BE into their curricula. Further study is needed before the curricula are revised.