Assessing pharmacy students drug information skills and perceptions using the critically appraised topic approach.

Background And Purpose: Competence in drug information (DI) skills fosters the application of evidence-based medicine (EBM) principles. However, concern exists about whether there is adequate DI preparation in curricula. This report describes the development, implementation, and evaluation of a team project utilizing the critically appraised topic (CAT) approach in a DI course.

Educational Activity And Setting: To assess abilities and skills in DI and EBM principles, student teams (N = 26) were assigned DI requests. A grading rubric based on the validated EBM Critical Presentation Evaluation Tool was used to evaluate each team's project. As a secondary measure, students completed pre-and post-class self-efficacy assessments describing their confidence in DI processes.

Findings: Twenty-six team posters were submitted with a mean project rubric score of 43 out of 50 points (86%). One hundred one of 172 students (59% response rate) completed the pre- and post-self-efficacy surveys, and results revealed gains in confidence for MEDLINE searching skills, properly citing sources, and knowing where to go next if the answer could not be found in a tertiary resource (all P < .001). The majority of respondents noted their teams collaborated to achieve project goals, actively participated, were open and accepting of others' ideas, and were satisfied with group interactions.

Summary: Student team creation of DI responses via CATs are an innovative way to introduce, measure, and enhance DI skills in a didactic classroom setting. Fostering DI skills prepares pharmacy students for evidenced-based pharmacy practice.