Redesign of a pediatric pharmacotherapy elective course to accommodate budget reductions

Abstract

Objective. To redesign a pediatric elective pharmacotherapy course and determine whether the redesign resulted in changes in outcome measures. Design. Active learning activities were moved to an online format. Prerecorded lectures continued to be used. Peer evaluation was incorporated to give the students more feedback on their performance. Assessment. Presentation grades, average examination grades, course grades, and evaluation scores from each student who completed University course evaluations were documented for students during the 2 semesters before and the 2 semesters after the course redesign. Although for undetermined reasons a drop in examination grades occurred after the course redesign, no significant differences in presentation grades, final grades, or course evaluation grades occurred. Conclusions. A strategic course redesign successfully reduced the costs and faculty time required to offer an elective course viewed as essential to the curriculum, allowing the course to be continued in the face of state budget cuts.