A Call for Clarity: A Proposed Toolkit to Integrate Foundational Sciences into Pharmacy Curricula

Abstract

The American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP) Pharmacotherapy Didactic Curriculum Toolkit has been used across many schools of pharmacy to guide the depth and breadth of therapeutics coverage, but no counterpart for foundational science coverage in pharmacy education currently exists. Broad topic areas for the foundational sciences are outlined in Appendix 1 of the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) standards, but the standards lack specific direction with regard to foundational sciences content needed in the professional pharmacy curriculum. Faculty are therefore challenged to determine the depth and breadth of foundational sciences to meet educational standards within limited curricular space, often resulting in curricular hoarding and overload. Another challenge is how faculty should best integrate the foundational sciences with clinical practice in accordance with ACPE expectations. This narrative review serves as an urgent call to develop a Comprehensive Foundational Sciences Toolkit and provides an example of a toolkit mapped to pharmacy educational standards and competencies. The authors discuss the potential of this foundational sciences toolkit to 1) guide faculty on the appropriate coverage of foundational sciences within the professional pharmacy curriculum to limit curricular overload; and 2) enhance communication and coordination between faculty to facilitate the process of streamlining, connecting, and aligning content across the foundational and clinical sciences.

Keywords: Curricular integration; Curricular mapping; Foundational sciences; Pharmacy education; Pharmacy educational standards.