A high-stakes assessment approach to applied pharmacokinetics instruction.

OBJECTIVES

To identify instructional and assessment problems leading to pharmacy students' failure to retain pharmacokinetics abilities into the experiential year and develop an instructional methodology and abilities-based assessment tool to address the problem.

METHODS

Pharmacokinetic instructional methods were assessed and an abilities-based assessment tool was developed and utilized as a requirement for curricular progression. Both the instructional methodology and the assessment tool were evaluated using abilities-based outcomes and faculty surveys.

ASSESSMENT

Both instructional methods and assessment methods improved student pharmacokinetic skill performance in the direct patient-care environment.

CONCLUSIONS

Continual assessment, modification, and implementation of teaching methods and the adoption of a high-stakes abilities-based assessment impacted student learning in a problem-based, integrated course.