Featured Projects

In the E2P PharmD program, students complete 42.5 weeks of experiential education across eight practicum courses over this four-year program. These experiences take students to varied urban and rural regions across the province. With each course ranging from two- to eight-weeks in duration, students are frequently challenged with relocating and adapting to new practice areas and may find it difficult to develop meaningful connections with patients and the community within this short time frame. To address these challenges, this project seeks to develop and implement a regional practicum model (RPM) whereby students would complete a series of their pharmacy practicum experiences within a selected rural/remote community/region. The pilot of such a model is hoped to expand access to both education and healthcare within underserved communities and create enhanced experiential learning opportunities and experiences for students. 

Experiential education is a critical component of the PharmD curriculum, offering immersive, high-impact and transformative learning opportunities. Feedback from student course evaluations and surveys, indicate that they feel unprepared to participate in inpatient (i.e., hospital) practicums leading to increased academic and well-being challenges.

Practice educators (practicing pharmacists who supervise students), who are fundamental to the sustainment of the faculty’s experiential program, are expressing increased workload associated with supporting unprepared students, leading to a decrease desire to continue hosting practicums. This impacts learning opportunities for our students.

Currently, students have minimal opportunities to apply their knowledge and skills to inpatient specific cases of varying complexity and receive tailored feedback, as expected on practicum. Through collaboration with frontline practitioners, this project aims to improve student preparedness for inpatient practicums by providing simulated practicum experiences consisting of real-life case-based activities which integrate electronic medical records, varying complexity, clinical application of skills, and feedback. 

Experiential education within the authentic practice setting is essential for preparing pharmacy students for practice. In the E2P PharmD program, students complete 42.5 weeks of experiential education across eight practicum courses over this four-year program. The transition from learning in the classroom to real-world practice settings can be challenging and some students may struggle and/or fail to demonstrate the expected knowledge and/or skills during these practicums. The E2P PharmD program currently does not have a formalized or standardized remediation program with support provided to struggling students on a case-by-case basis. Aligned with Canada’s accreditation standards, this project aims to develop a formal, consistent and effective approach to remediate students experiencing academic challenges on practicum through creation of an accessible, self-paced remediation program.

We hope to improve student learning in the nephrology module by reinforcing concepts through innovative educational opportunities that also promote engagement and enjoyment. We will explore incorporating methods that promote student learning and the impact of educational gamification (i.e., escape room activity, condensed lecture summary notes, new patient case walkthroughs, and a dialysis activity). Development, implementation and evaluation of these interventions are currently underway.

A comprehensive evaluation of teaching modalities used during the pandemic yielded important guiding principles for the Entry-to-Practice PharmD Program revision, particularly greater adoption of hybrid curriculum delivery using innovative online and in-person activities. This project aims to develop and implement asynchronous learning activities as core components of hybrid delivery throughout the Program.

The asynchronous learning activities will (1) support learner flexibility and autonomy; (2) use Universal Design for Learning principles and accessibility standards; (3) align with curricular objectives.

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Investigators

Emily Wong, Romina Sardari, Simon P. Albon

Summary

Have you ever asked the question, “Does my educational scholarship project need formal ethics review?” or “Can I publish this scholarly teaching project without ethics approval?” Currently, UBC provides little guidance to help answer these questions, a situation often leading to ambivalence about the ethics process in education-related scholarship. To address this issue, this project is creating critical guidelines for ethically-sound educational scholarship that includes the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) and quality assurance/quality improvement research in academic contexts. Drawing on national Tri-council ethics guidelines for biomedical research involving humans, project development combines rigorous literature review and web searching for key ethical considerations for SoTL research and existing guidance on ethically-sound SoTL in Canadian Universities with extensive collaboration involving UBC’s Institute for the SoTL and Office of Research Ethics, and Research Ethics BC. The intent is to create a comprehensive, user-friendly screening tool that guides educational researchers through the research design/ethics review processes at UBC, and more broadly, across the province’s health authorities. The screening tool represents the first of its kind at UBC.

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Investigators

Simon P. Albon, Janet Cooley, Kristin K. Janke

Summary

Most faculty members’ contributions to pharmacy education are significant but often challenging to document and describe. In addition, contributions may go unrecognized or rewarded unless the work results in a publication or presentation. As part of an on-going, in-depth examination of educational impact, this project focuses on methods for faculty to identify and organize their academic contributions, particularly for those whose primary role is teaching. Building on significant work completed at UBC, the Educational Leadership Mapping (ELM) tool is assisting pharmacy educators in thinking systematically about the full breadth of their education contributions for documenting in CVs and teaching dossiers. Application of the ELM tool in the teaching, service, and research domains of academic work facilitates the development of a more complete picture of education contributions for others to see and appreciate as well as professional development and career advancement decisions. Creating a pharmacy-specific impact framework for scholarly teaching initiatives along with structured visualization and narrative approaches for describing and communicating impact continue this work.

Investigators

Karen Dahri, Fong Chan, Casara Hong

Summary

Pharmacists are regularly required to assess drug interactions and determine a course of action. Previous research has found that the assessment and evaluation of drug interactions can vary considerably between pharmacists and from what is recommended in drug information resources. To help facilitate clinical decision making around drug interactions an algorithm was developed, called TLC-Act. Teaching modules around drug interactions and TLC-Act have been developed and incorporated into the E2P curriculum this past year. The evaluation of this educational intervention is currently underway.

Investigators

Timothy Lim, Leonie Harper, Sandra Jarvis-Selinger, Donna Drynan

Summary

This pilot project seeks to educate faculty, staff and students in UBC’s health and human services programs about racism in the healthcare system and its health related impacts on those who experience it (either as a patient or a care provider).

This multi-disciplinary, two-phase symposium and workshop will provide the context for faculty health professional educators and their trainees to reflect on their positionality in the healthcare system, and promote the development of more compassionate, culturally mindful and anti-racist healthcare providers.

Investigators

Gerry Oleman, Sandra Jarvis-Selinger, Larry Leung, Jennifer Chatterton, Patricia Gerber, Tamiz Kanji, Kerry Wilbur, Janice Yeung, Leonie Harper, Stella Fang, Charissa Tonnesen, Brenda Zou

Summary

Building Foundations, proposes to use collaborative, student-led and Indigenous-partnered engagement to explore how the Academic Portfolio of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences can operationalize recommendations directed toward health education programs, outlined in documents such as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, In Plain Sight, United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), UBC’s Indigenous Strategic Plan, and the Faculty’s draft Underserved Communities Strategic Plan.

However critical, those documents do not provide concrete pathways for how to action change. Starting with the Faculty’s pharmacy programs and their supporting units, this initiative seeks to build relationships with Indigenous partners to identify infrastructure, resources, processes, and capacity required to operationalize decolonization and Indigenization of policies, practices, and curriculum.

Building the foundation for long-term implementation and evaluation, this initiative will deeply impact student learning experiences, build relationships with Indigenous communities, and change attitudes as decolonization and Indigenization becomes overtly embraced in the Faculty.

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Investigators

Jessica Kalra, Anusha Kassan

Summary

Concepts such as Justice, Equity, Diversity, Decolonization, Inclusion and Indigeneity have been part of the conversations in higher education for decades. The next critical stage is to operationalize these considerations in the classroom. The challenge is in how to do so without redundancy and with respect and humility. Existing pedagogical frameworks such as the 4R’s, Respect, Relevance, Reciprocity and Responsibility (4R), Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) may bring us part of the way there. There is an opportunity to appraise and update both CRT and UDL and add an overarching layer of the 4Rs for the purpose of providing educators with the tools they need to begin the process of creating learning experiences for students that consider JEDDII. Our objective is to amalgamate the UDL and CRT frameworks with the 4Rs into a single practical process for operationalizing JEDDII considerate teaching and learning.

Investigators

Jessica Kalra, Maggie Ross, Viki Vogel, Raged Anwar, Daryl Smith

Summary

An open access toolkit titled “Encouraging Academic Integrity Through a Preventative Framework” was created through a collaboration between Education Developers, subject matter experts and Academic Integrity Advocates. This toolkit was developed to provide educators with methods and examples of activities and assessments that can help students meet academic standards and expectations. Using the model of open pedagogy/andragogy, we see this as a living document that acts as a user-driven guide. We invite users to share feedback as well as other tools and/or examples of preventative approaches to assessment design that should be included in this text as we update the resource annually. We welcome stories of successes or challenges. In this way, we believe this toolkit will become a significant support to educators internationally and across disciplines.

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Investigators

Jessica Kalra, Ji Yang, Kelly Sveinson, Todd Stuckless

Summary

The Applied Science for the Canadian Cannabis Industry is an applied research program built on 5 areas: 1. Analytical Chemistry; 2. Formulations; 3. Evaluation of Efficacy; 4. Botany and 5. Applied Education. Our highly qualified team is focused on providing industry with capacity, technology and expertise to move research projects forward. Our goal is to build complementary, collaborative teams that will generate new knowledge and accelerate the application of research results, while at the same time providing applied learning opportunities for undergraduate students. As a lead scientist for the formulations and efficacy work, I believe it is essential to gain a fulsome understanding of the components of Cannabis and their specific mechanisms of action in order to harness the therapeutic potential of the plant in the treatment of a wide variety of physiological conditions including inflammation, pain and anxiety. To do this work, it is necessary to identify the chemical entities that are medically useful and examine the structure and function in isolation while at the same time designing chemical formulations that will optimize delivery and absorption of the active agent to make it therapeutically available.

Investigators

Tristan Lai, Alex Tang

Summary

As society broadens its understanding of sexual orientation, gender identity and expression (SOGIE), its healthcare institutions must also reflect this growth. The 2019 House of Commons Report on “The Health of LGBTQIA+ Communities in Canada” recommends that sexual and gender diversity be included in health professional training. Today’s healthcare professionals must develop knowledge of gender diversity and its intersection with sexual orientation and associated experiences, histories, and language to provide best patient care. To build two-spirit, trans and queer competencies amongst pharmacy students, this three-year initiative will integrate SOGIE into the UBC Entry-to-Practice Doctor of Pharmacy curriculum throughout the four professional years. The intended goal of this project is to promote critical allyship and dismantle the systemic cisheteronormativity embedded in pharmacy education and the profession. Upon successful completion of this curriculum, students will demonstrate a commitment to attitudinal and practice changes to provide safe, quality, and equitable healthcare to 2SLGBTQQIA+ clients.

Investigators

Kayla Fang, Gilly Lau, Jamie Park, Paulo Tchen

Summary

The curriculum of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences’ Entry-to-Practice PharmD program prepares students to fulfill the clinical components of practice as well as achieve social accountability. Community-engaged learning (CEL) activities are key components of teaching and building social accountability for pharmacy students.

Second-year pharmacy students take a mandatory CEL course, where each student is matched with a community partner organization to fulfill 20 hours of service. Additionally, many UBC pharmacy students are actively involved in voluntary CEL activities, which encompass any extracurricular activity where students elect to provide education to the public on health topics.

Through this phenomenological study, we identified factors that enhance and restrict student engagement in CEL activities, such as having structured learning activities that incorporate reflective learning for mandatory CEL and having a personal interest in the topic for voluntary CEL. We also found overlapping motivations for both mandatory and voluntary CEL, such as having a broader perspective of the diverse populations in the community.  We hope to utilize these findings to enhance student engagement in the design of CEL activities in the curriculum.

Investigators

George Pachev, Neelam Dhaliwal, Gilly Lau, Tarique Benbow, Satvir Heer, John Lee, Garrett Tang, Harmen Tatla

Summary

Students enter the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences’ Entry-to-Practice PharmD program as expert classroom learners. However, the program includes 44 weeks of experiential education practicums, a learning environment that is much less familiar to students. Practicum learning environments include outpatient and inpatient direct patient care, and non-direct patient care settings. Students can benefit from additional support in learning effectively as they transition out of the classroom setting and into these experiential education practicums.

To address this, we created a series of animated videos framed around the theoretical concepts of the “learning cycle” and “learning script” and based on previously completed research on students’ “learning moments” on practicum. Please click here to view an example of one video we have created. A total of five videos have been produced, and an evaluation of this project is planned for the near future.

Investigators

Marion Pearson, Heather Brodoway

Summary

Academic workload is a leading cause of stress in university students (Kausar, 2010). Workload is often defined as the hours spent in class plus the time allotted to independent study. However, factors such as learning environment, teaching methods, assessment strategies, curricular structure, institutional resources, and individual student factors all play a significant role in shaping students’ perceptions of workload (Kember, 2004). This qualitative study aims to identify the factors that shape students’ and faculty members’ perceptions of student workload in the UBC Entry-to-Practice PharmD program using semi-structured interviews and an art-based drawing activity. Findings from this study may inform program modifications to mitigate perceptions of excessive workload.

Kausar. (2010). Perceived stress, academic workloads and use of coping strategies by university students. Journal of Behavioural Sciences, 20(1), 31–45.

Kember, D. (2004). Interpreting student workload and the factors which shape students' perceptions of their workload. Studies in Higher Education, 29(2), 165–184.

Investigators

Marion Pearson, Jason Min, Jennifer Chatterton, Yubai Liu, Chu Qi Yu, Ivy Huang

Summary

Pharmacy and other health education programs have wide variances in admissions prerequisites. For the UBC Entry-to-Practice PharmD program, some prerequisite courses are particularly troublesome due to the specificity of the current requirements, the lack of direct equivalents at other institutions, and the diverse academic backgrounds of applicants. This causes delays, errors, and significant time devoted to evaluating courses in determining eligibility for the program. This study aims to explore how the current PharmD admissions requirements compare to other programs that have adopted different approaches including: (i) broad requirements for specific course topics, such as chemistry, rather than specific courses (i.e., CHEM 203), (ii) removing English course requirements, (iii) lowering the number of credits required to apply, and (iv) facilitating access for applicants from underrepresented communities.