Objective. The Health Sciences Reasoning Test (HSRT) is a validated instrument to assess criticalthinking skills. The objective of this study was to determine if HSRT results improved in second-year student pharmacists after exposure to an explicit curriculum designed to develop critical-thinking skills. Methods. In December 2012, the HSRT was administered to students who were in their first year of pharmacy school. Starting in August 2013, students attended a 16-week laboratory curriculum using simulation, formative feedback, and clinical reasoning to teach critical-thinking skills. Following completion of this course, the HSRT was readministered to the same cohort of students.Results. All students enrolled in the course (83) took the HSRT, and following exclusion criteria, 90% of the scores were included in the statistical analysis. Exclusion criteria included students who did not finish more than 60% of the questions or who took less than 15 minutes to complete the test. Significant changes in the HSRT occurred in overall scores and in the subdomains of deduction, evaluation, and inference after students completed the critical-thinking curriculum. Conclusions. Significant improvement in HSRT scores occurred following student immersion in an explicit critical-thinking curriculum. The HSRT was useful in detecting these changes, showing that critical-thinking skills can be learned and then assessed over a relatively short period using a standardized, validated assessment tool like the HSRT.

Objective. To determine whether instructor-prepared classroom examinations for pharmacotherapy courses were aligned with course goals and objectives. Design. Assessment items from examinations in 2 pharmacotherapy courses were evaluated. Four categories of alignment (depth of knowledge, categorical concurrence, range of knowledge, and balance of representation) were used to match course assessments with objectives. Assessment. While assessments met the criteria for acceptable alignment, there were areas for improvement. Goals and objectives were unevenly assessed, with 1 goal aligning with 45% of all assessment items. The assessments covered all content categories and the range of knowledge established by the objectives, but objectives under specific goals were not evenly assessed. Conclusion. This alignment study provided quantitative data useful for review and revision of pharmacotherapy course objectives and assessments and demonstrated the usefulness of alignment assessment as a tool for continuous quality improvement.Keywords: alignment, assessment, curriculum objectives, pharmacotherapy INTRODUCTIONEffective educational outcomes require the coordination of curriculum, instruction, and assessment. One measure of educational outcomes is alignment, or the matching of test content to subject area content. Alignment is defined as ''. . .the degree to which expectations and assessments are in agreement and serve in conjunction with one another to guide the system toward students learning what they are expected to know and do. '' 1 Using this definition, the ''expectations'' within a higher education course become the course goals and objectives; the corresponding assessments are the examinations.In an aligned system, all parts of the system work together to guide instruction and facilitate student learning. 2Learning expectations and classroom assessments cover the same content and assessments accurately measure the students' knowledge across the depth and breadth of the goals and objectives. An analysis of alignment provides evidence of assessment content validity, identifies needs for improvement, and contributes to instructional accountability.The University of New Mexico College of Pharmacy Curriculum Committee monitors the development and delivery of the curriculum as part of an ongoing commitment to continuous quality improvement. Course goals and objectives are mapped to the expected competencies and outcomes. Instruction is audited for content and delivery methods. Written classroom assessments undergo test-item analysis. However, no work has been conducted to determine whether the written classroom examinations are aligned with the course goals and objectives.There are 3 major approaches to determining whether expectations and assessments are aligned: sequential development, expert review, and document analyses.2-4 Sequential development is a structured method of alignment. In this logical but time-consuming method the learning expectations are developed first and then used to develop the curriculum. ...

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Prevalence of CAMT is high in a diverse population of patients. Older respondents were more likely to use CAMT in addition to prescription medications, and younger respondents were more likely to use CAMT instead of prescription medications. Providers need to consider CAMT use when discussing treatment options with patients.

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