Investigating and Supporting the Understanding and Application of Chemistry within the Pharmacy Degree Programme

Pharmacy education continues to evolve with the increasingly clinical role of the pharmacist in the UK healthcare system. The importance of chemistry within the pharmacy degree has been a long-debated topic. However, the subject’s significance continues to be recognised within regulatory education standards in the UK and around the world. Chemistry holds a pivotal role in underpinning clinical knowledge for pharmacists. The understanding of chemical concepts allows them to make more informed decisions on the medication they are recommending or prescribing. Nonetheless, chemistry can be complex, and students may struggle to connect some of the abstract concepts within chemistry to real world application in pharmacy practice. There are few previously published studies that have investigated learning chemistry on a non-chemistry major degree, so this study aimed to fill this gap in the literature. This study set out to gain a deeper understanding of any factors affecting the learning of chemistry on the pharmacy programme, staff and students perceptions of chemistry within the degree and the impact of curriculum approaches. Finally, it endeavoured to support pharmacy students in understanding and applying their chemistry knowledge in a pharmacy context. A mixed methods approach was selected to utilise both qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis. This methodology allowed the research questions to be addressed with a greater breadth and depth. A sequential model with three phases was used. The first phase analysed possible factors affecting engagement and attainment in a first-year chemistry module. It found that some demographic factors appeared to influence engagement with, but not attainment on, a piece of summative coursework. The second phase explored academic staff and pharmacy students’ perceptions of chemistry in the pharmacy degree. It then explored students’ perceptions of the curriculum structure. Students’ understanding of thinking integratively, i.e. connecting their knowledge between chemistry and clinical teaching, was also discussed. Among the identified themes, the importance of relevance and the ability to integrate underpinning science with practice were highlighted. The findings from these two phases enabled a detailed identification of the issues and were subsequently used to inform the development of a teaching intervention. In the third phase, a series of patient focused case-based workshops were designed and delivered. These workshops encouraged group work and development of higher order thinking skills like clinical problem solving using their chemistry knowledge. This teaching was evaluated by the students who considered what improvement in skills they perceived and what future support would be beneficial for them. Having students as partners in some of the data collection was also a key component of this doctoral study. They specifically worked with the researcher during the student qualitative data collection. They provided thoughtful insights into the question development of the research tools, and their involvement enhanced the richness of the dataset and the authenticity of the approach. The term ‘relevance’ was highlighted by both staff and students throughout the qualitative data analysis. However, although students wanted ‘relevant’ chemistry teaching, their specific perceptions on this varied between individuals depending on previous experiences and career aspirations. Students’ integrative thinking skills were not consistently demonstrated without guidance and scaffolding. Clear contextualisation of chemistry with relevance to practice helped students feel engaged and think in a more integrative way. Students appreciated a patient-focused approach to learning chemistry and engaged well with this method of teaching due to its clear link to their future role in clinical practice. This thesis provided a deeper understanding of students’ perceptions on chemistry within the pharmacy degree. It identified pharmacy students’ specific needs, helping them to use chemistry in an applied and meaningful way. The findings suggest that students need to be introduced to integrative thinking from the beginning of the programme and chemistry needs to be more integrated into practice teaching to allow them to appreciate, understand and apply the underpinning science behind their clinical knowledge. This research highlights the continuing importance of learning chemistry with understanding and application as part of students’ preparation to become a pharmacist. It can be used to inform the strategic and operational approach to this area of teaching on the MPharm degree, using chemistry conceptual understanding to develop critical thinking skills and justify clinical decisions. This understanding of the fundamental science supporting clinical practice is pharmacists’ unique selling point and an important contribution to the multidisciplinary team.