Background

In August 2024, The University of Bath began delivering its highly ranked MPharm programme at the University of Plymouth campus. Purpose built facilities enabled innovation within Applied Pharmacy Practice Skills (APPS), a long established, practice based component of the curriculum which is designed to support the application of theory taught in lectures through simulated pharmacy activities. MyDispense, an online pharmacy simulation platform1, has been embedded within APPS to complement existing teaching structures while translating paper-based activities into authentic digital equivalents across community and hospital practice. In particular, the Electronic Health Record (EHR) module replaced paper drug charts and notes, reflecting contemporary electronic prescribing and documentation systems and supporting the development of students’ digital literacy.

Methods

Across nine Year 2 APPS classes, students completed MyDispense activities designed to deliver simulated experiences not previously feasible in the classroom and aligned to teaching elsewhere in the curriculum. End-of-semester evaluation used a Microsoft Forms survey (Likert scales and open responses). Data were extracted and analysed in Microsoft Excel.

Results

Students supported the continued use of the MyDispense platform in APPS classes and agreed that the hospital (EHR) activities were more realistic than paper drug chart activities when considering electronic systems encountered during secondary care placements, helping prepare them for future practice. Students reported:

“It's very realistic … and helps get used to seeing lots of information like the hospital system.”

“It did help checking drug charts … which would be online in practice.”

Discussion/Conclusion

We have demonstrated that MyDispense supports practice-focused learning in APPS, particularly through EHR-based hospital activities. Exposure to realistic electronic workflows may help bridge the gap between classroom learning and placement experience, supporting students’ confidence when navigating clinical systems. Future work will explore longitudinal integration across the MPharm curriculum and evaluate impact on preparedness for practice.

References

1. Mak V, Fitzgerald J, Holle L, et al. Meeting pharmacy educational outcomes through effective use of the virtual simulation MyDispense. Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning 2021. DOI: 10.1016/j.cptl.2021.03.003.

Critical evaluation of scientific literature is a core competency for pharmacists’ clinical decision making [1]. Today’s society with sheer unlimited access to valid and non-valid information poses additional challenges for students on how to sieve relevant and reliable information from literature and how to critically appraise claims and statements, in order to formulate their own critical arguments. At Utrecht University, the Bachelor of Pharmacy is finalized with a thesis, for which students perform an individual literature study to answer a specific research question. Based on the quality of these theses, concerns were identified regarding students’ information literacy, critical appraisal, and quality of argumentation. The aim of this project was to more effectively scaffold the development of these academic skills of 3rd-year pharmacy students by redesigning the literature thesis from an end-product targeted project to a competency-centred capstone project, supported by targeted workshops. Three workshops were developed targeting research question formulation, systematic literature searching, critical appraisal, and scientific argumentation. Students’ and supervisors’ perspectives on perceived learning outcomes and added value of the different workshops were explored using a mixed qualitative approach, including student questionnaires and supervisor focus groups. Evaluation revealed that the most important perceived learning outcomes were taking on a systematic approach to searching the literature and critical analyses of scientific literature. In addition, students reported more effective structuring of relevant information to benefit their argumentation and supervisors reported higher quality of formulated research questions. Supervisors indicated that although scientific argumentation has improved, students still struggled, especially while writing their discussion section. They suggested students would benefit from a workshop about discussion writing.
In conclusion, the new set up with three workshops to support students’ research process strengthen critical thinking skills that directly align with pharmacists’ responsibilities in evidence-informed clinical decision making.

References:
1. Oderda GM, Zavod RM, Carter JT, et al (2010). An environmental scan on the status of critical thinking and problem solving skills in colleges/schools of pharmacy: report of the 2009-2010 Academic Affairs Standing Committee. Am J Pharm Educ. 74(10): Article S6.

Background and aims: Pharmacists are being relied on more often to assess, diagnose, and prescribe for common upper respiratory tract infections (URTI) and ear infections, especially in regions where healthcare systems are strained. The objective of this mixed-methods study was to determine curricular changes necessary to prepare pharmacy students for expanding scope to manage URTI and ear infections.

Methods: An environmental scan of Canadian pharmacy programs was undertaken. Representatives were invited to complete an electronic questionnaire describing the curricular content of URTIs and ear infections including the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment. A questionnaire and focus groups/ interviews were also completed with pharmacists to evaluate self-perceived confidence and competence in prescribing for these infections. Quantitative data was analyzed descriptively, and qualitative data was analyzed using thematic analysis.

Results: All Pharmacy program curricula include common URTIs and ear infections, although to varying degrees. Few programs (27%) prepare students to complete a differential diagnosis related to this content including discussion of less common infections. Physical assessment techniques, where included (19%), are primarily taught didactically. Half of all program representatives do not feel their students can independently assess and prescribe for these infections upon graduation. Consistent with the environmental scan, pharmacists (N = 49) reported apprehension in assessment of URTI and ear infections with only half self-reporting they have competence in diagnosing pharyngitis and fewer than a third in diagnosing ear infections. Most respondents were comfortable prescribing an appropriate antibiotic. The qualitative analysis identified “Preparedness”, including need for more hands-on training, as the most extensively discussed theme by participants (N = 16).

Conclusion: If graduates are expected to offer this expanded scope at exit from degree, there is a need to increase instruction on assessment and diagnoses of URTI and ear infections in programs. Students should be exposed through skills labs and experiential education.

Background/Statement of aim(s):
Pharmacy graduates are entering practice environments increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence (AI) and digital health technologies. While learners often adopt these tools rapidly, pharmacy education has struggled to keep pace with the structured development of AI literacy, ethical awareness, and critical clinical reasoning. There is a limited shared understanding of how curricula should address both the opportunities and risks associated with AI-enabled practice. This educational innovation aimed to identify curriculum gaps, priorities, and actionable strategies to support the development of future-ready pharmacy graduates through cross-institutional dialogue.
Methods:
A hybrid educational innovation initiative was conducted involving pharmacy educators, clinicians, and students from multiple institutions. Structured World Café discussions and a facilitated fireside dialogue were used to explore experiences, concerns, and educational needs related to AI, digital health, and innovation in pharmacy education. Discussions were guided by predefined prompts focusing on AI literacy, clinical deskilling, ethical implementation, and curriculum integration. Qualitative thematic synthesis was undertaken across discussion outputs.
Results:
Three dominant themes emerged. First, participants identified an urgent need for structured AI literacy education, including skills in critical evaluation of AI outputs, recognition of bias, and alignment with clinical guidelines. Second, concerns were raised regarding potential clinical deskilling associated with over-reliance on AI, highlighting the importance of preserving foundational pharmacy competencies through strategies such as AI-free learning activities and peer-based learning. Third, ethical and responsible AI use was emphasised, particularly regarding data privacy, transparency of AI systems, and clear boundaries between appropriate educational uses and tasks requiring human clinical judgement. Cross-institutional and interprofessional dialogue was viewed as a key enabler for shared learning and curriculum development.
Discussion and/or Conclusion:
Dialogue-based, collaborative educational initiatives provide valuable insights into curriculum gaps and priorities for preparing future-ready pharmacy graduates. Embedding AI literacy, ethical reasoning, and innovation competencies within pharmacy curricula is essential to balance technological advancement with patient safety, professional identity formation, and sustainable practice readiness.

Background/Statement of aim(s)
Assessment structures strongly influence how, what, and when students study outside scheduled teaching.¹ In assessment-intensive programmes such as pharmacy, overlapping preparation demands risk compressing engagement with learning activities. Constructive alignment emphasises designing assessment and curriculum structures that support intended learning processes.² Traditional assessment calendars display deadlines but do not represent cumulative preparation burden across concurrent modules. The aim of this work was to develop outputs to make assessment-driven workload compression visible and actionable.
Methods
Assessment data for one semester of an MPharm programme were collated, including module credit value, assessment weighting, release dates, deadlines and defined preparation windows. Weighted assessment value (module credit × assessment weighting) was distributed across preparation days and summed across concurrent modules to generate daily preparation density. Outputs included student-facing calendars and heatmaps and staff-facing analytics enabling inspection of individual- and cohort-level workload distributions. Pilot student feedback on the student-facing outputs was collected using a short Microsoft Forms survey.
Results
Preparation density visualisation identified workload peaks arising from overlapping preparation windows that were not apparent from deadline-only calendars. Fourteen students completed the pilot survey. Most respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the calendar was easy to understand (11/14), useful for planning study (10/14), and effective at identifying high-workload periods (13/14). Free-text responses highlighted improved awareness of busy periods and support for forward planning. Staff-facing outputs demonstrated the capability to examine assessment load at individual and cohort level; formal evaluation of staff use has not yet been undertaken.
Discussion/Conclusion
Preparation density provides a transparent and scalable method for modelling assessment workload aligned with evidence that assessment design shapes out-of-class learning behaviour¹ and with constructive alignment principles². Early student feedback suggests the approach is intuitive and potentially useful. Staff-facing analytics offer a novel mechanism to support assessment sequencing, curriculum planning and programme-level quality assurance. Further evaluation is required.
References
1. Gibbs G, Simpson C. Conditions under which assessment supports students’ learning. Learn Teach High Educ. 2005;1:3–31.
2. Biggs J, Tang C, Kennedy G. Teaching for Quality Learning at University. 5th ed. McGraw-Hill; 2022.

Background/Statement of aim(s): Despite equivalent educational provision, pharmacy students at XXX continue to demonstrate variation in assessment outcomes. While cognitive ability has traditionally been emphasised, growing evidence highlights the importance of non-cognitive, behavioural and lifestyle factors.¹-² The aim was to identify student-specific factors associated with higher and lower academic performance in a Master of Pharmacy (MPharm) programme, to inform curriculum design and targeted academic support.

Methods: Following faculty ethical approval, an online questionnaire study was conducted among XXX MPharm students in 2025, with students in the highest (Q1) and lowest (Q4) academic quartiles invited to participate (n=204). The questionnaire covered study environment, study habits, personal and lifestyle factors, and motivation and support, informed by Walberg’s theory of educational productivity.¹ Data were analysed using chi-square tests in SPSS (version 29), with Holm–Bonferroni correction applied to control the family-wise error rate. Statistical significance was set at p<0.05.

Results: Ninety students completed the questionnaire (response rate 44%; Q1 n=50, Q4 n=40). Higher-achieving students were significantly more likely to report motivation by high grades (extrinsic motivation) compared with lower-achieving students (corrected p=0.002). Lower-achieving students more frequently reported fear of failure and personal expectations as primary motivators. Additional trends (not statistically significant after correction) associated higher academic performance with longer average sleep duration, lower social media use, home-based study environments, and greater use of active recall strategies (such as completing past-papers).

Discussion/Conclusion: This work highlights the complex and sometimes counter-intuitive role of motivation and lifestyle factors in students’ assessment outcomes, albeit at one institution only. The prominence of fear-based motivation among lower-achieving students has implications for assessment design, academic support, and student wellbeing. Interventions that promote self-efficacy, growth-oriented goal setting, healthy study behaviours and active learning strategies may support improved assessment performance and the development of competent future pharmacists.

References:
1. Walberg HJ, Farley FH, Gordon N. A psychological theory of educational productivity. Paper presented at the 1976 annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association. Psychology and Education. 1981
2. Duckworth AL, Seligman MEP. Self-discipline outdoes IQ in predicting academic performance. Psychol Sci. 2005;16(12):939–944.

Background:
During the Clinically Enhanced Pharmacist Independent Prescribing programme (CEPIP) at University College London (UCL) a simulation-based-education (SBE) workshop was piloted, whereby tIP students were immersed into the role of pharmacist independent prescribers. The aim of the workshop was to develop both Clinical Reasoning (CR) and Clinical Decision-Making (CDM) skills. These skills are crucial with expansion of pharmacist prescriber roles in the UK1.

Aim: Evaluate the impact of this SBE workshop

Methods:
A self-administered electronic questionnaire (10-items) was completed after the workshop. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse numerical responses, free-text responses were highlighted as quotes.

Results:
A 60% response rate was achieved (n=41).
66% of tIP students stated the workshop felt realistic, with community pharmacist trainees commenting this session was useful but out of their prescribing scope. 88% felt scenarios were clinically relevant, 63% stated the workshop was extremely relevant and 32% stated highly relevant to their learning about CDM. 100% stated they could relate stages of the workshop to the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) competency framework for prescribers2.
One student commented ‘[I] learned a lot [as it was] independent work with lots of real-life references such as bloods, actors, test-results, observations etc. being discussed in small groups’.

Discussion and/or Conclusion:
The results demonstrate that students enjoyed the workshop and found it useful, and that the component elements of the session could easily be related to the competencies outlined by the RPS and GPhC for their portfolio.

Innovation and novelty:
The session ensured an immersive simulation workshop was delivered to 70 students in one day which was important for sustainability, allowing possible enhancements to the large undergraduate MPharm cohort at UCL.

Relevance to the section:
This new style of workshop for the prescribing course at UCL allowed immersion into the role of prescriber and application of prescribing skills previously learned ensuring students have the necessary skills befitting of independent prescribers.

References:
1. Rutter PM, Harrison T. Differential diagnosis in pharmacy practice: time to adopt clinical reasoning and decision making. Res Social Adm Pharm. 2020;16(11):1483-1486

2. Royal Pharmaceutical Society. A competency framework for all prescribers. London: Royal Pharmaceutical Society; 2021.

Background:
Seminars in the medicinal chemistry course within the integrated undergraduate and graduate Pharmacy program at the University of Zagreb Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry have traditionally been knowledge based (students were assigned a specific topic, based on which they prepared a short oral presentation). While this format supports independent learning, it often limits student engagement and active participation, as students primarily focus on their own topics. To address these limitations, a redesigned seminar format emphasizing collaborative, research-oriented learning was introduced. This study evaluated students’ perceptions of the redesigned seminar format, with a focus on engagement, collaboration and relevance to medicinal chemistry research.
Methods:
Students were organized into groups of three and assigned a structured medicinal chemistry research task within a therapeutic area corresponding to drug classes covered in lectures and later revisited in pharmacology and clinical pharmacy courses. Each group developed a research plan, identified and sourced relevant chemicals using appropriate identifiers, analyzed key physicochemical properties related to drug design, and proposed new compounds. Student perceptions were evaluated using anonymous post-course questionnaires comprising Likert-scale and open-ended questions. Based on feedback from the first year, the seminars were refined, and survey results from subsequent cohorts were compared.
Results:
After the first year of implementation, student satisfaction with the seminars was rated with an average score of 4.39. Following the incorporation of student feedback and targeted improvements, satisfaction increased in the most recent cohort, reaching an average score of 4.80. Qualitative responses highlighted increased motivation and the perceived relevance of acquired skills for pharmaceutical research and professional practice.
Conclusion:
The redesigned seminar was positively received by students. By linking medicinal chemistry concepts with therapeutic areas reinforced throughout the curriculum, this approach supports vertical integration and promotes the early development of research- and practice-relevant competencies in pharmacy education.

Background/Aims
Pediatric medication errors in the hospital are a major concern.¹ There remains insufficient exposure to pediatric pharmacotherapy within pharmacy schools; recent graduates require extensive on-the-job training to reach a minimum level of competency.² The Pediatric Pharmacy Association recommends that employers ensure pharmacists are prepared with key pediatric competencies (e.g., pharmacokinetics, fluid and nutrition needs, etc.).² Efforts to provide pediatric pharmacotherapy education must be prioritized. The objective of this study was to develop and implement hospital pharmacist pediatric pharmacotherapy education modules and assess changes in confidence.

Methods
Six pediatric pharmacotherapy modules were designed for adult learners that could be completed asynchronously via a web-based platform. Topics were selected guided by pre-existing literature and identified needs of the organization. Participants completed an online questionnaire before and after completion of the modules to assess self-reported confidence with navigating different pediatric scenarios. Statistical analysis included application of a two-tailed paired t-test to assess the difference in pre- and post-test scores. Statistical significance was defined as a p-value of < 0.05.

Results
Forty-three pharmacists participated in the study. Most had 1-5 years of experience (62.8%) and 83.7% of participants received five hours or less of didactic pediatric education in pharmacy school. An increase in pharmacists’ confidence occurred after the modules were completed (Mean difference = 0.97; 95% CI 0.73 - 1.21; p < 0.05). The greatest increase in confidence was shown in assessing intravenous fluid appropriateness (Mean difference = 1.51; 95% CI 1.26 - 1.77; p < 0.05).

Conclusion
This study demonstrated improvement in pharmacist self-reported confidence in pediatric pharmacotherapy following completion of education modules. Future interventions should include routinely incorporating the pediatric modules in hospital pharmacist training programs to provide safer care for patients.

References
1. D’Errico S, Zanon M, Radaelli D, et al. (2022) Medication Errors in Pediatrics: Proposals to Improve the Quality and Safety of Care Through Clinical Risk Management. Front. Med. 8:814100.
2. Boucher EA, Burke MM, Klein KC, et al. Update to the Minimum Requirements for Core Competency in Pediatric Hospital Pharmacy Practice. The Journal of Pediatric Pharmacology and Therapeutics. 2021;26(7):762–766.

Although Aotearoa New Zealand has universal health coverage, inequities in health outcomes exist. Māori, the Indigenous people of Aotearoa, represent only 18% of the population yet experience disproportionately high mortality rates, more than twice those of non-Māori. Alongside other persistent indicators of poor health, these disparities demonstrate that Aotearoa’s healthcare system remains insufficiently equipped to meet the needs of Māori communities. Such inequities reflect the long-term impacts of colonisation and a health system that is not consistently culturally safe, sufficiently diverse, or guided by Te Tiriti o Waitangi (the Treaty of Waitangi).

Despite growing global recognition of the importance of Indigenous knowledge in health professional education, research examining Indigenous curricula in pharmacy programmes remains limited. The aim of this research is to identify how pharmacy education can strengthen the Aotearoa health workforce responsiveness to Māori and contribute to improved Māori health outcomes.

This qualitative study was guided by a Kaupapa Māori research approach, underpinned by values such as whanaungatanga (relationships), manaakitanga (hospitality), and mana motuhake (autonomy). Interviews with pharmacy educators, Māori pharmacists, and Māori whānau (family/community) were undertaken alongside a literature review focused on Indigenous pharmacy education.

Early analysis indicates that Indigenous content in pharmacy curricula is sparse, inconsistently integrated, and often reliant on individual champions rather than institutional commitment. Educators express interest in strengthening content but report limited support, training, resourcing and guidance. Māori pharmacists and whānau Māori discussed the importance of pharmacy graduates having a good understanding of Hauora Māori (health and wellbeing) and ability to enact Te Tiriti obligations in practice.

This research contributes to a broader movement aimed at transforming health professional education to support Indigenous health equity. By centring Indigenous perspectives in pharmacy training, we can strengthen student capability, enhance engagement with Indigenous communities, and ultimately improve health outcomes for Indigenous communities.

Background and Aims:
Non-clinical pharmacy courses are frequently perceived as less relevant by learners, despite their alignment with Curricular Outcomes and Entrustable Professional Activities.1 Traditional grading systems have shown limitations in accurately measuring learning and reduced intrinsic motivation. While innovative grading strategies, such as specifications grading, are gaining traction, they remain underexplored. This project aimed to evaluate whether modernizing assessment through specifications grading and intentional integration of artificial intelligence (AI) could enhance students’ knowledge, self-efficacy, and perceptions of course principles.
Methods:
A phased course modernization strategy was implemented; first piloted in a required 2-credit Pharmacy Business Management course and subsequently expanded to a required 4-credit Patient-Centered Communications course. Modernization included use of a specifications grading system and integration of AI into various course activities. Student participants in the first offering of each modernized course completed pre- and post-surveys to assess knowledge, self-efficacy, and perceptions. Likert-scale responses were analyzed using Fisher’s Exact Test. Correlations between specifications assignment completion and final grades were analyzed using Wilcoxon Rank Sum Test.
Results:
In both courses, specifications-based assignment completion was strongly correlated with final course grades. Specifications grading supported student engagement and allowed students to feel in control of their course grade. Students in the communications course highly valued course relevance (98% strongly agree/agree) and applicability to practice (100% strongly agree/agree). In the management course, student-reported understanding of business finance fundamentals significantly increased from 24.2% pre-course to 69.2% post-course. Reported AI use increased by 22.1% in management, while use decreased by 4.7% in communications. Students in both courses demonstrated improved ability to discern appropriate AI applications.
Conclusion:
A phased modernization strategy using specifications grading and AI integration supports student agency, course engagement, and AI literacy which are critical for practice-ready pharmacists. This pilot highlights a scalable, transferable approach to engaging learners in curricula.
References:
1. Medina M, Farland M, Malcom D, Lockman D, Ma, Mirzaian E, et al. AACP Curriculum Outcomes and Entrustable Professional Activities (COEPA) 2022 Report of the 2022-2023 Academic Affairs Standing Committee: Revising the Center for the Advancement of Pharmacy Education (CAPE) Educational Outcomes and Entrustable Professional Activities [Internet]. Available from: https://www.aacp.org/sites/default/files/2022-11/coepa-document-final.pdf

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is increasingly integrated into health education to support communication and task management; however, its use in teamwork-focused educational contexts remains underexplored.¹ In pharmacy education, teamwork and interpersonal communication are essential professional competencies. To explore how GenAI may support these skills, a discipline-specific GenAI tool, CognitiAI, was made available to pharmacy students from March 2025 to support teamwork and collaborative activities. This study aimed to examine how pharmacy students interact with GenAI during teamwork-focused activities and to explore students’ perceptions of its role in teamwork.

A qualitative study was conducted with third-year pharmacy students enrolled at an Australian university, conducted from 1st to 30th June 2025. Students completed a teamwork-focused scenario-based activity using two GenAI tools: a general-purpose chatbot, such as ChatGPT, and CognitiAI. Semi-structured Zoom interviews explored prior GenAI use for teamwork, interaction patterns during the activity, and perceived benefits and limitations. Student–GenAI interactions and interview data were analysed using qualitative coding.

Thirty students participated in the study. Fewer than one third reported prior use of GenAI to assist with teamwork, with many indicating a preference for face-to-face interaction when managing group dynamics. Students who engaged with GenAI described it as supporting communication between team members in challenging situations, particularly for those who experience difficulty with interpersonal communication. In addition, most participants preferred CognitiAI for teamwork-related scenarios due to its contextual relevance and structure, while others favoured general-purpose tools for familiarity or quicker responses.

Although participants were third-year students with established group work practices, GenAI appeared particularly helpful for supporting communication in specific teamwork situations, and its potential role in supporting students at earlier stages of learning should be explored further. Overall, these findings indicate that discipline-specific GenAI shows promise in supporting teamwork-related communication, while continued refinement is needed to optimise its use across learning contexts.

References:
1. Pham, T. D., Karunaratne, N., Exintaris, B., Liu, D., Lay, T., Yuriev, E., & Lim, A. (2025). The impact of generative AI on health professional education: A systematic review in the context of student learning. Medical education, 10.1111/medu.15746.

Background & aim: Generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools are increasingly used in higher education¹, including academic writing where distinct human–AI collaboration patterns have been described², yet its impact on authentic academic performance and student learning practices remains unclear. This study investigated how students used GenAI when writing a staged funding proposal and its impact on proposal performance, the perceived benefits and boundaries of use.

Methods: Convergent mixed-methods design analysis within a single coursework Masters unit. Quantitative strand: cross-sectional comparison of final proposal marks between 2023 (GenAI not permitted) and 2024 (GenAI permitted). Qualitative strand: deductive thematic analysis of 2024 student reflections on tool use (initial n=182; final n=200) and student self-report data from survey (n=13) and interviews (n=5). Strands were analysed separately then integrated to generate meta-inferences.

Results: Mean final proposal marks were similar across cohorts (2023: 68% vs 2024: 67%, p=0.828 Welch’s two-sample t-test), suggesting no cohort-level grade uplift from GenAI access. In student reflections, GenAI was commonly framed as assisting with “writing infrastructure” for clarity, rather than time-saving. Students also described GenAI as a thinking partner for sense-making, reflected in interview reasons: writing support, summarisation, research assistance, and brainstorming. “Trusting AI output” was a dominant theme: cross-checking and reliability were common concerns. Reported benefits included capability-building (critical-thinking/problem-solving; productivity).

Conclusion: GenAI did not meaningfully change cohort performance, but students positioned GenAI as a tool for communication quality and cognitive scaffolding, accompanied by active verification and boundary work. These findings support assessment designs that teach verification/attribution practices and leverage GenAI for capability development rather than perceived “grade advantage”, consistent with emerging ethical guidance for AI-assisted academic writing³. Future research could explore objective indicators to determine whether GenAI helped students optimise their time and effort while achieving comparable grade outcomes.

1.Baig MI, Yadegaridehkordi E. ChatGPT in the higher education: A systematic literature review and research challenges. Int J Educ Res. 2024;127:102411. doi:10.1016/j.ijer.2024.102411.

2.Nguyen A, Hong Y, Dang B, Huang X. Human-AI collaboration patterns in AI-assisted academic writing. Stud High Educ. 2024;49(5):847-864. doi:10.1080/03075079.2024.2323593.

3.Cheng A, Calhoun A, Reedy G. Artificial intelligence-assisted academic writing: recommendations for ethical use. Adv Simul. 2025;10:22. doi:10.1186/s41077-025-00350-6.

Background and Statement of Aim(s):
Pharmacy education faces challenges in offering authentic opportunities for students to develop skills for effective healthcare delivery to diverse patient populations. While workshops provide safe spaces for students to model behaviours that enhance deaf literacy, validating their effectiveness is essential. Real-world placements and mystery shopping scenarios ultimately test students’ ability to apply these skills in practice.

Aim: To develop, implement, and evaluate a deaf-literacy curriculum co-designed with a hard-of-hearing partner to prepare pharmacy students for effective communication with hard-of-hearing patients.

Methods:
The curriculum was piloted in the PHR2011 unit at Monash University and included consumer-led videos simulating poor and effective communication, self-paced materials, and reflective tasks. Students attended a workshop and completed a post-intervention survey. A subset participated in mystery shopping during placements, and students were invited to a focus group. Data sources included a survey, observations, and thematic analysis of reflections.
Results:
Mystery shopper observations (n=25) showed:
76% spoke clearly at a normal pace, facing the patient
84% maintained eye contact and avoided covering their mouth
16% offered to move to a quieter area
92% used gestures or visual aids (e.g., pointing to a product location)
100% demonstrated patience and empathy
24% checked for understanding using teach-back

Focus group reflections (n=4) highlighted students’ intentions for improvement after their placement experiences. One student noted:
“I would give written information next time- for example, providing the CMI and pointing out key aspects.” (Student 1)
Another reflected: “I would highlight the written information that is relevant and use better body language to reinforce my counselling.” (Student 3)
Students valued the authenticity of consumer-led videos and workshops but acknowledged challenges during placements, such as difficulty interpreting patient body language and balancing the problem-solving required for the mystery shopper scenario with effective communication strategies.

Discussion/Conclusion:
The co-designed curriculum improved confidence and foundational communication behaviours, but advanced strategies such as offering to move hard-of-hearing patients to quieter areas and using teach-back to confirm understanding were less consistently applied. Future work should reinforce these strategies and extend the approach to other diverse patient groups to enhance inclusivity and readiness for practice.