A pharmacoeconomics and formulary management collaborative project to teach decision analysis principles

Abstract

Objective. To implement and assess the effectiveness of a 2-course collaborative decision analysis project intended to help students understand the relevance of pharmacoeconomics to clinical pharmacy practice and provide them an opportunity to apply skills taught in pharmacoeconomics to a "real world" problem. Design. Students were assigned a pair of drugs, 1 commonly used as standard therapy and 1 newly approved, and conducted a decision analysis. The results were then used in a mock pharmacy and therapeutics (P&T) committee meeting. Assessment. Ninety-eight of 106 (92%) students completed a 4-question survey instrument. Ninety-six percent of students agreed or somewhat agreed that the decision analysis project met the learning objectives. Students felt the shared assignment influenced their choice of formulary drug, augmented understanding of factors influencing decisions, broadened their thinking about drug costs, and was a good approximation of a "real world" application. Conclusion. An innovative joint-course assignment proved to be a successful technique for teaching decision analysis.