Evaluating a Skills Laboratory Curriculum to Determine the Essential Skills for Pharmacy Students to Learn

Abstract

The profession of pharmacy is complex and diverse, encompassing a wide range of skills necessary in practice. Skills laboratory course faculty must determine which skills are essential for students and how these skills should be taught and assessed. This commentary aims to further the discussion on how the essential skills taught and assessed in skills laboratory curricula are identified, with the intention of preparing student pharmacists for both current and future pharmacy practice. Guidance on essential skills is provided by various organizations and documents, but ultimately each institution has the autonomy to decide what to teach. The importance of frequent curriculum evaluation is discussed in order to train the pharmacists of the future who practice at the top of their license rather than simply meeting competency with historical skills.