Development of a physical activity prescription course in a Doctor of Pharmacy program

Adv Physiol Educ. 2024 Mar 14. doi: 10.1152/advan.00173.2023. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTPharmacists are increasingly becoming the healthcare professional that interacts most regularly with patients who have diseases or disorders for which exercise is an effective and recommended treatment. With the relative scarcity of clinical exercise physiologists in the US, pharmacists are expected to provide lifestyle advice to their patients, especially in community (i.e. retail) pharmacy settings, but student pharmacists typically receive no formal or informal training in exercise physiology and prescription. To address this deficit, an elective course was developed to provide student pharmacists with the knowledge and skill set that will enable them to apply evidence-based physical activity guidelines in the pharmacy. The course utilized the Exercise is Medicine® resources for chronic diseases and disorders that are routinely encountered in community pharmacies, in addition to analysis of interactions between exercise and medications commonly prescribed for these conditions. After completion of the course, students reported being significantly more comfortable discussing physical activity with their patients compared to the start of the course (P<0.001). Similarly, at the end of the course 99% of students reported that they felt confident in their ability to apply evidence-based recommendations of common diseases and disorders to their patients. Post-course student evaluations...
Source: Adv Physiol Educ - Category: Universities & Medical Training Authors: Source Type: research