Abstract:

The subject of Legislation and Pharmaceutical Deontology is currently integrated into the curriculum of Degree in Pharmacy, as a compulsory subject of the basic training. A priori it appears to be more focused on the branch of law than on health sciences. Due to this fact, the lecturers team often perceive a lack of motivation from the students. In addition, being a fundamentally theoretical subject, which is constantly modified due to frequent changes in health regulations, theoretical lectures have traditionally been the methodology of choice. In light of this situation, the lecturers team decided to incorporate complementary activities into the course design with two main objectives: to increase student’s motivation, and to evaluate the impact of those changes in the student’s learning activities. At the end of the semester, the achievement of the objectives was assessed by several polls completed by the students. The results indicate that these complementary activities have been overall very positively evaluated by the students. 61% of students reported that the innovative teaching methodologies used in this course have improved their learning habilities. Among the thirteen proposed activities, the best rated (on a scale of 1-10) were four. The best rated was the video-comparative activity about advertising of medicines in different countries and different legislative periods (8.3 points). Second, the evaluation and recognition of symbols on medicines packaging (7.7 points). Third, the debate on the use of placebo in clinical research (7 points), and finally, the activity about validation of prescriptions and labeling of compounding (6.45 points). Moreover, among the thirteen proposed activities, seven of them obtained a score higher than 5 points. Therefore, according to the results, we consider the educational experience as highly productive for graduate students in pharmacy. However, the activities poorly valued by students should be taken into consideration for the next academic year, and be changed accordingly to the student’s comments to keep improving.

Keywords:

Pharmaceutical law and Deontology, new methodologies, innovation, motivation.