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Background and Purpose: In health professional programs, training for educators in instructional design is sparse and may be absent altogether. Implementing evidence-based, systematic instructional design can improve pharmacy curricula. This paper describes Gagné's instructional design model which is particularly effective because the instructional steps align with learners' cognitive processes. The model is applied to the teaching of liver pharmacotherapeutics in a pharmacy curriculum., Educational Activity and Setting: Second-year pharmacy students completed 25 hours of liver pharmacotherapeutics instruction that was developed using Gagné's nine instructional events: gain attention, inform about objectives, stimulate recall of prior information, present information, provide guidance, elicit performance, provide feedback, assess performance, and enhance retention., Findings: Students completed individual and team-based assessments including SOAP notes, recorded case presentations, web-based quizzes, a pre- and post-knowledge assessment, and midterm and final exam multiple-choice test. Students demonstrated significant improvement in liver pharmacotherapeutics knowledge from the pre- to post-knowledge assessment. Student course instructor evaluations also reflected effectiveness of the format., Summary: Evidence-based instructional design strategies, such as Gagné's model, can enhance learning of challenging pharmacotherapeutics concepts using a systematic framework that aligns with cognitive processing., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Physicians are increasingly approached by individuals seeking integrative approaches to health care and well-being. Many integrative modalities include a physical activity component. Patients seek guidance from primary and specialty care providers on the safe and effective incorporation of these modalities into their lifestyle. Physicians and other health professionals receive very limited training in the clinical applications of exercise science. This paper reports on a curriculum designed to teach health professionals key exercise constructs for application to clinical practice for prevention and management of lifestyle-related disease, and incorporating the curriculum into a preventive medicine residency training program. The course was developed in 2012-2013, data collected in 2013-2015, and analysis was done in 2015. Six modules were developed as part of a 24-hour course. Each module included didactic, laboratory, and case examples. The modules included energetics, exercise and cardiorespiratory health, bone health, obesity and sarcopenia, balance and fall prevention, and behavior change and the use of technologies. The delivery was found feasible for all three components, delivered in 2-4-hour segments. The incorporation into the residency curriculum was feasible, efficacious, well received, and easily incorporated into the existing curriculum. This comprehensive curriculum has the potential to close the gap in medical school, residency, graduate, nursing, and integrative curricula on this important topic. Current practitioners would benefit in primary care and geriatric settings. This curriculum would also be useful for cross-disciplinary researchers, including public health, health behaviors, and integrative medicine practitioners., (Copyright © 2015 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The increase in adverse health impacts of disasters has raised awareness of the need for education in the field of emergency public health. In the past, most traditional models of graduate education in schools of public health have not incorporated the theory and practice of disaster public health into their curricula. This paper describes the development of a curriculum in emergency public health within a US masters program in public health, and provides a description of the courses that comprise an area of specialization in the field. The interdisciplinary nature of the faculty, close ties with public health practitioners, and practical applications of the nine courses in this program are highlighted. The curriculum is presented as one model that can be used to meet the educational needs of professionals who will assume the responsibility for planning for and responding to the public health impacts of mass-populations disasters.

Physicians and other hospital staff have a unique opportunity to assist victims of abuse. It is imperative that they develop the skills necessary to identify and diagnose cases and provide the support and referral services needed to help victims end the cycle of violence. This paper describes a comprehensive evaluation of the instructional design, implementation, and learning outcomes of the Domestic Violence Module at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Medicine to determine the effectiveness of this curriculum in helping medical students develop such skills. Expert reviewers found it to be an innovative, well-planned curriculum, and students and faculty tutors expressed a great deal of interest in and satisfaction with the course as a whole. However, the different evaluation components identified the same areas for improvement: (1) students need more opportunity to practice skills and receive feedback during the module, (2) there is inconsistency across classes in what is learned, and (3) tutors need better preparation sessions. The student outcomes reflected these needs and therefore suggest that the study may be useful in determining the components of an effective curriculum. After the training, the students reported significant increases in their feelings of self-efficacy and in their intentions, especially in comparison with a group of control students. Therefore, the module seems to be successful in inspiring medical students to work with victims of abuse.

This paper presents the rationale for and description of the empirical curriculum development process in Project Towards No Drug Abuse (Project TND), which is a five-year grant funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. First, the target population is described, continuation high-school youths who are at high risk for drug abuse. The rationale for developing a classroom-based curriculum tailored for them is also provided. Second, a brief description is provided of state-of-the-art generic social influences drug abuse prevention programming, which has been found to be the most effective among young adolescents. There is a the need to consider other prevention activities, particularly those that include motivational variables, to maximize prevention efforts among higher-risk youths. Third, five types of curriculum development studies are discussed that led to a curriculum that is being implemented with continuation high-school students at schools in five counties in southern California. Finally, the contents of the final curriculum product is provided, which consists of motivation, skills-training, and decision-making components.

Developing a curriculum that integrates laboratory, field, and nonlaboratory experiences requires solid planning, cooperation, and compromise among the faculty members in a department. This is especially true for laboratory experiences where basic skills and familiarity with the different groups of plants and animals carry over to upper-division courses. In an introductory Principles of Biology laboratory, for example, exercises can be designed to give students a clear idea of a statistical distribution and the consequences of random molecular motion. Both concepts are used in nearly all upper-division courses to some extent. Some important but "mechanical" features of courses within a curriculum, such as adopting within the department a single format for writing a scientific paper, will go a long way in tying together different laboratory experiences. Other similar but simpler ideas are to develop appendexes to laboratory exercises that can be used in introductory and upper-division courses, e.g., how to do dilutions, the use of SI units, etc. The latter may be a good way to stimulate departments to think more carefully about continuity and consistency in the design of the overall curriculum. Continuity of instruction from lower-division to upper-division courses and among upper-division courses requires communication between instructors at all levels.

This paper describes methods of planning and integrating an introductory course in human behaviour for first-year medical students, from a primary care perspective. The conceptual model is based on a synthesis of the literature on stress, stress responses and human development. An experiential component integrates didactic material and clinical experience. The teaching methods are based on formats, such as grand-rounds, used by postgraduate doctors. Specific techniques are described to integrate the diverse components of the curriculum: timing of learning experiences; training of academic staff; preparation of patient volunteers; and use of student representatives.