Nontraditional Pharm.D. program at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.

The nontraditional Pharm.D. program at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences is described. The nontraditional program, started in 1990, includes 21 credit hours of didactic work and 12 of clerkships. In the self-paced didactic courses, videotapes, manuals, and texts are used, along with faculty consultation in person or by telephone. Clerkships can be traditional or nontraditional. Nontraditional clerkships can be completed by self-study in the student's community after an orientation period at the preceptor's site. More than 400 pharmacists have enrolled in the program and more than 80 have entered nontraditional clerkships. Thirty-nine pharmacists have received the Pharm.D. degree. The program offers an accessible alternative for pharmacists who want to earn the Pharm.D. degree while maintaining full-time employment.

Content and retention evaluation of an audiovisual patient-education program on bronchodilators.

A study was conducted to: (1) evaluate the effect of a slide-tape program on patients' short-term and long-term knowledge about their bronchodilator medications; and (2) determine it any differences exist in learning or retention patterns for different content areas of drug information. The knowledge of 30 patients was measured using a randomized sequence of three comparable 15-question tests. The first test was given before the slide-tape program was presented, the second test within 24 hours, and the last test one to six months (mean = 2.8 months) later. Scores attained on the first posttest were significantly higher (p less than 0.001) than pretest scores. Learning differences among drug-information-content areas were not evidenced on the first posttest. No significant difference was demonstrated between scores on pretest and last posttest (p = 0.100). However, retention patterns among content areas were found to differ significantly (p less than 0.05). Carefully designed audiovisual programs can impart drug information to patients. Medication counseling should be repeated at appropriate opportunities because patients lose drug knowledge over time.