Development and student evaluation of an introductory biostatistics course as a required course in the doctor of pharmacy curriculum

Abstract 

Objectives

To describe the design, content, and student evaluation of an introductory biostatistics course in the Doctor of Pharmacy curriculum.

Design

This is a required course for first professional year pharmacy students at Purdue University. The course was offered for the first time in the fall semester of 2005 and has been since offered yearly. The course is a 1.5-credit hour course dedicated to biostatistics instruction.

Assessment

Student evaluations of the course have improved in almost all categories since its implementation. Although the relevance of statistics to the profession of pharmacy is the most commonly recurring written comment, it is not reflected by quantitative course evaluations. Furthermore, the student evaluations of the relevance of statistics to the profession of pharmacy has improved since the implementation of this course (p = 0.0024).

Conclusions

This course in biostatistics provided students with an understanding of the use and application of biostatistics to problems related to pharmacy and the pharmaceutical sciences. The course is useful in the preparation of students for future courses in the professional curriculum.

Keywords: Biostatistics, Course evaluation, New course