First Year Experience: Librarian as Instructor of a Pharmacy Practice Laboratory

Pharmacy Practice Laboratory (PPL) Course Series are required courses for PharmD students to practice the use of scientific and clinical knowledge in providing pharmaceutical care. The course meets three times per week for a lecture followed by a discussion session and a laboratory session. This poster describes the author’s first-year experience of teaching PubMed in this unique format. During Spring 2012, the author’s role in PPL was focused on PubMed. To prepare for PPL, the author attended planning meetings, evaluated students’ previous knowledge of PubMed, and investigated the teaching facilities. During the 2nd week of PPL, the author delivered two 50-minute lectures in a traditional classroom and led a 50-minute hands-on/discussion session in a computer laboratory. She also developed and graded PubMed online quizzes. During the following few weeks, the author collaborated with pharmacy faculty in developing and grading assignments and activities on finding drug information. In the final week, the author did a 20-minute wrap-up session on PubMed to summarize the common mistakes and revisit important concepts and features. The author found her first-time experience as an instructor for PPL successful and rewarding. The unique format and structure of the PPL course allowed her to connect with students through in-depth instruction, assignments and activities evaluation, and semester-end summary. She was also able to build strong collaborative relationships with faculty