Designing, Implementation, and Evaluation of an Online Modular Course on Patient Education and Counseling at the Community Pharmacy

The role of pharmacists has evolved from drug provision to patient care. Considering the Doctor of Pharmacy curriculum in Iran and the small number of programs on pharmaceutical care, Iranian pharmacy graduates may not be able to adjust to their new roles.

A comprehensive online modular course was prepared by a group of well-experienced faculty members of eight universities of medical sciences in Iran. The course included 12 practical and challenging submodules on commonly encountered disorders and commonly used medications in the community pharmacy. Each submodule was followed by an online forum in which the teachers and participants discussed the educational questions. The increase in participants’ knowledge was evaluated using pre-and post-test. The usefulness of submodules and acceptance of the entire course were also evaluated by two specifically designed questionnaires.

After the announcement, 154 participants registered in the course. The knowledge of the participants increased significantly in all the 12 submodules. The majority of participants stated that all the submodules were useful. Moreover, the majority of respondents to questionnaires declared that the course has increased their confidence in providing patient counseling in the pharmacy.

The comprehensive online course on patient counseling in the community pharmacy increased participants’ knowledge. Besides, the course was useful and well accepted by the participants.