The intent of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a novel curriculum component designed to assist freshmen pharmacy students in identifying postgraduate career opportunities and in recognizing practical applications of the didactic educational program. Offered as a one credit hour required (pass/fail) course in the spring semester of the first professional (P1) year of a six-year (2/4) PharmD program, the course syllabus combined both didactic and (for half the students) clerkship learning opportunities. Students were assigned to one of two groups to determine who would complete four one-day clerkship visits (CL group), or alternately write a paper describing the role and responsibilities of a pharmacist in four practice areas (WP group). The clerkship component of the course involved a freshman (Pl) student ''shadowing'' a senior (P4) student for one day in each of the following areas: ambulatory medicine, geriatrics, hospital practice, and community practice. Monthly classroom discussions were held or lectures were presented involving all enrolled students. Pre- and posttests (in addition to course evaluations) were administered to all students in the class to determine if the shadowing experience significantly improved the students' ability to master the course objectives. The results of this study revealed that the proportion of students with correct answers was significantly higher for several questions in the posttest of the CL group when compared to the pretest, however, there was no statistically significant difference overall between the WP and CL group. The course evaluations indicated that the prevailing attitude of all students and preceptors involved was that the early introduction of students into the practice areas of pharmacy was very beneficial. As a result of this study, Campbell University School of Pharmacy plans to continue to offer this program as a required course in the first professional year; however, the curriculum will be modified to enable all students to visit clerkship sites.
