2025 Southeastern Residency Conference

Title: Utilization of Pharmacist Instructors in Didactic Curricula Across Graduate Healthcare Education Programs


Authors: River Medlin, Carrie Baker, Riley Bowers


Background: Pharmacology and pharmacotherapy courses are part of curricula across health science programs with a variety of strategies utilized to deliver this material including the use of pharmacists. Previous literature has examined the use of pharmacists within physician assistant (PA) programs, but is limited concerning use across graduate healthcare education programs. The purpose of this research was to describe the current utilization of pharmacists in didactic instruction among graduate healthcare education programs along with barriers to utilization.


Methods: This was a cross-sectional, descriptive survey electronically distributed to graduate healthcare education programs within the United States between October 30, 2024 and February 3, 2025. Eligible programs included accredited physician (MD, DO), physician assistant (PA), physical therapy (PT), and occupational therapy (OT) programs. The primary outcome was to compare the utilization of pharmacists as instructors within didactic curricula between accredited health profession education programs. 


Results: Contact information was collected for 903 eligible programs with emails successfully deployed to 823 programs. Of those programs, 129 (15.7%) responded.  Overall responses indicated that 74 (57.4%) programs utilized pharmacists as instructors within their curriculum. When examined by individual program type, 13/18 (72.2%) of MD/DO, 44/51 (86.3%) of PA, and 17/60 (28.3%) of PT/OT programs utilized pharmacists. The most common barrier across all disciplines was availability of qualified pharmacists, and the most influential factor in determining utilization was qualifications of pharmacists.


Conclusion: Current utilization of pharmacist instructors varies across disciplines and regions within the United States. The most influential factors for programs who utilized pharmacists and those who did not was the qualifications of pharmacists and availability of pharmacists with adequate qualifications. This emphasis on qualifications identifies an opportunity for pharmacists to better promote their expertise and capabilities as instructors as the number of pharmacists with post-graduate training, specialization, and board certifications continues to increase.