Development of an antimicrobial stewardship-based infectious diseases elective that incorporates human patient simulation technology.

Objective: To design an elective for pharmacy students that facilitates antimicrobial stewardship awareness, knowledge, and skill development by solving clinical cases, using human patient simulation technology.

Design: The elective was designed for PharmD students to describe principles and functions of stewardship programs, select, evaluate, refine, or redesign patient-specific plans for infectious diseases in the context of antimicrobial stewardship, and propose criteria and stewardship management strategies for an antimicrobial class at a health care institution. Teaching methods included active learning and lectures. Cases of bacterial endocarditis and cryptococcal meningitis were developed that incorporated human patient simulation technology.

Assessment: Forty-five pharmacy students completed an antimicrobial stewardship elective between 2010 and 2013. Outcomes were assessed using student perceptions of and performance on rubric-graded assignments.

Conclusion: A PharmD elective using active learning, including novel cases conducted with human patient simulation technology, enabled outcomes consistent with those desired of pharmacists assisting in antimicrobial stewardship programs.