Pharmacy Core Concepts

Since the 1990s, educational research on core concepts and development of related concept inventories have led to the adoption of a new evidence-based paradigm for undergraduate teaching in foundational courses in biology, chemistry, physics, physiology and several other STEM disciplines. The transformative power and effectiveness of this conceptual approach has been demonstrated repeatedly through a quarter century of educational research and development in several science and mathematical disciplines undergirding pharmacy and have provided an evidence-based path to assess instruction methods and compare teaching approaches. Pharmacy education currently has no agreed upon, evidence-based criteria for determining what foundational knowledge content is most important to teach - and most important for students to demonstrate they have learned - prior to licensure and practice. The purpose of this study is to identify the core concepts of pharmacy.