Abstract:

Since the 1980’s, evidence based decision making has gain momentum in medicine. Evidence based medicine (EBM) is described as the integration of individual clinical expertise with the best available evidence from systematic research. Most teaching of EBM for pharmacy and medical students takes place in the classroom setting around teacher-centered didactic activities. During the fourth year of pharmacy school, students transition from didactic learning to pharmacy practice experiential learning. During that time and when they are transitioning into licensed pharmacist they must also shift from being taught to self directed lifetime learners. Self directed learning is a behavior that demands a habit of consistent learning by inquiry and the use of information technology.
Purpose:
The goal of the exercise is for pharmacy students to learn a variety of mechanism to be able to keep up on the medical literature and information in a practical and efficient manner. This is to assist the student to become a self directed learner which is an essential skill to have to be a pharmacist.
Method:
The internal medicine rotation is an eight week rotation consisting of three, fourth year pharmacy students. Each week, one student is assigned to propose a process for which he or she could use to keep up with the literature. This includes completing a template which targets three areas: the process of collecting the information, what information was gained and whether this process would be useful as a technique to keeping up with the current medical literature in regards to time, access and relevance. Twelve students have participated with a total of 24 completed assignments. One hundred percent have included an electronic component to the process on keeping up with the literature. The presented processes have included association membership resources, medical websites, really simple syndication or RSS feeds, email updates, podcasts, video news clips, continue education resources, etc.
Discussion:
The best way to keep up with the medical literature is to set up a system that delivers valid, relevant information. It is beneficial for students to be assisted in the transition of faculty feed information to self directed lifetime learners and initiating student to start considering how they will succeed in this area is advantageous. As the students’ transition into an independent clinician, time will continue to be limited therefore creating an efficient system will be essential to their success. Of note, the students’ means to keeping up with the literature is a reflection of the millennial generation which is described with characteristics of using digital and media technologies to a much larger extent than previous generations. This can be useful to consider for the best evidence medical education (BEME) collaboration which is implemented by teachers in their practice to approach medical education based on the best evidence available. The BEME should target their approaches to teaching to the millennial generation by utilizing a variety of technologies.

Keywords:

Evidence based medicine, pharmacy, lifelong learning.