Developing and incorporating health and medication literacy content in pharmacy curriculum

Abstract

This chapter primarily aims to provide insight into developing content related to health and medication literacy in pharmacy curricula. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) had explicitly recommended the inclusion of health literacy concepts and skills in healthcare profession education programs, including pharmacy. Healthcare professionals should be trained to effectively communicate with vulnerable patients, especially those with limited health literacy. Studies among pharmacy and other healthcare students had reported a lack of confidence in effectively communicating with patients due to inadequate content on health literacy in curricula. Therefore, the incorporation of health and medication literacy competencies into the curricula of pharmacy degree programs is crucial to developing competent pharmacists who are equipped with the requisite knowledge and skills to enhance health literacy and decrease the negative impact of limited health literacy on their patients. A similar trend was also observed in other healthcare professions. Several studies and reviews have examined the need to develop competency frameworks and core elements of health literacy education for inclusion in healthcare professional education programs. There have been calls to action on developing harmonized health literacy competency/curricular framework as well as an approach to teaching and assessment across different health profession education programs. Health professional education programs, including medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, nursing, public health, and others, should incorporate health literacy into their curricula and areas of competence. Challenges recognized include time constrained in busy curricula and limited guidance on the development and effective delivery of health literacy content. In this chapter, we have attempted to synthesize the available evidence related to health and medication literacy in pharmacy curricula and to propose a competency framework for health and medication literacy in pharmacy education. We also propose pedagogical approaches based on available evidence and best teaching and learning practices.