Creating a Curriculum to Prepare Pharmacists for Practice in an Evolving Health Care Environment

Sep 17, 2026

A curriculum transformation at the Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy (DKICP) is designed to prepare pharmacists for practice amid changing health care requirements. The Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education’s 2016 standards and upcoming 2025 revision motivate a contemporary, continuously improved curriculum. A Curriculum Transformation Team establishes student learning outcomes, solicits faculty, staff, preceptors, alumni, and student input through multiple retreats and workgroups, and maps the current curriculum to new outcomes and national standards. Draft syllabi and a curriculum framework guide staged implementation beginning Fall 2023.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages5

Reading Time13 min

AccessFree to download

Background

How We Did It

Establishing the Curriculum Transformation Team

Creating and Refining Student Learning Outcomes

Developing the Curriculum Framework and Mapping to Standards

Workgroups, Surveys, and Retreats

Draft Syllabi and Implementation Timeline

The Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy Scripts Creating a Curriculum to Prepare Pharmacists for Practice in an Evolving Health Care Environment Sheri Tokumaru PharmD, BCCCP; Jarred Prudencio PharmD, BCACP, BC-ADM; Camlyn Masuda PharmD, BCACP, CDCES; Dana-Lynn T. Koomoa PhD; Chad Kawakami PharmD, BCPS; Lara Gomez PharmD; Miriam Mobley Smith PharmD, FASHP HJH&SW contributing editor of the Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy (DKICP) Scripts column is Jarred Prudencio PharmD, BCACP, BC-ADM. Dr. Prudencio is currently Associate Professor of Pharmacy Practice and Chief of Experiential Education, with expertise in healthcare education and outpatient family medicine. Abbreviations CTT = curriculum transformation team DKICP = Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy SLO = Student Learning Outcomes Background The inaugural class enrolled at the University of Hawai‘i (UH) at Hilo, The Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy (DKICP) in 2007. The framework of the curriculum has been altered periodically yet remains largely intact. The Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education provides accreditation standards for pharmacy colleges/schools that are updated intermittently to reflect the changing role of the pharmacist and the health care field. The current standards were implemented in 2016 with the next revision scheduled for implementation in 2025. The DKICPundertook a curricular revision to design a contemporary curriculum congruent with anticipated changes in the 2025 standards. Along with the contemporary curriculum, a continuous quality improvement process has been incorporated allowing for curriculum revision agility as the health care environment evolves. This curricular revision brings DKICP’s curriculum into better alignment with other colleges of pharmacy who have undergone recent curricular revisions. How We Did It In Fall 2020, DKICP established the Curriculum Transformation Team (CTT). The team gathered and analyzed internal and external data and reviewed other programs with recently revised curricula. The first phase of the curriculum transformation was the creation of the draft student learning outcomes (SLOs) by the CTT. The goal of the SLOs was to describe knowledge, skills, and abilities a graduate of the DKICP would attain and was a critical piece to guide the development of the curriculum. The CTT reviewed SLOs from several other colleges and discussed key attributes necessary for pharmacists. The SLOs were presented to the faculty in February 2021 where input was given, and revisions were made. The pharmacy practice and pharmaceutical sciences departments initially provided 5 curricular improvement suggestions. The CTT also requested that the college’s curriculum committee map the current curriculum to the new proposed SLOs and national pharmacy standards. After reviewing this information and analyzing other programs’successful curricula revisions, the CTT created a draft curriculum framework. The first curriculum retreat in June 2021, focused on the importance of curricular revision, the revised SLOs, and a data analysis summary. An activity discussing strengths, challenges, and ideas for the framework draft was conducted. To gather input from additional college stakeholders, retreat guests included preceptors, alumni, and a UHMānoa John A. Burns School of Medicine faculty member. After the first retreat, 5 different color-coded workgroups were established in July 2021 by the CTT (Figure 1). The CTT provided expectations and charges to each group. Workgroups included faculty, staff, preceptors, alumni, and fourth-year students. Once the workgroups developed recommendations for the assigned courses, a survey was sent to capture feedback on recommendations from all workgroups. Throughout the process all participants had access to workgroup documents and course syllabi and were able to provide feedback to the workgroups. The second retreat, held in September 2021, began with an overview of the“

FAQs

Why did DKICP undertake a curricular revision?

DKICP revised its curriculum to align with anticipated changes in the 2025 Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education standards and to better match how pharmacists’ roles are evolving in health care. A continuous quality improvement process was added to support ongoing agility as the environment changes.

How were student learning outcomes (SLOs) developed?

DKICP’s Curriculum Transformation Team gathered and analyzed internal and external data and reviewed other programs with recently revised curricula. The team drafted SLOs, presented them to faculty for input in February 2021, and revised them based on feedback from faculty.

What roles did stakeholders play during the transformation process?

Stakeholders including faculty, staff, preceptors, alumni, and fourth-year students participated in color-coded workgroups and retreats. Their recommendations and feedback informed framework revisions, and course and syllabi templates supported the creation of draft syllabi.

Sep 17, 2026

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