Assessing the impact of a leadership and advocacy elective course in a college of pharmacy curriculum

Introduction and leadership framework: While the scope of a pharmacist's work has grown, continued advocacy is needed to ensure that their skillset is used to the best advantage of the patient. To accomplish this aim, the University of Utah College of Pharmacy created an elective advocacy and leadership class to train students in leadership and advocacy methods, with a focus on enabling students to practice advocacy within the state of Utah throughout the class.

Educational context and methods: In addition to traditional lectures, this class asked students to apply the knowledge learned in class to projects within their sphere of influence. Activities included drafting their own bill, writing to a legislator, attending state legislative and board of pharmacy meetings, and a longitudinal quality improvement project. Students answered a pre- and post-class survey to assess their attitudes towards advocacy efforts and how those attitudes were affected by participation in the class.

Findings and discussion: As expected, a positive change in attitude towards advocacy was observed, and students indicated that they were more likely to engage in advocacy activities in the future after participating in the course. Moreover, a real legislative outcome has been observed as the result of class projects.

Implications: Enabling students to engage in advocacy activities and guiding them to effect real change is a valuable technique in pharmacy education. Similar efforts can be replicated in other institutions, and similar training should be expanded to required portions of the pharmacy curriculum.