FREMFARM - Educating pharmacists to meet tomorrow's challenges
FREMFARM project, is funded by DIKU. The project is led by Lone Holst and Reidun Kjome, and has partners from the Mohn Center for Innovation and Regional Development at the University College of Western Norway, from Diakonhjemmet Hospital Pharmacy, and from SLATE (Center for the Science of Learning & Technology), UiB.
Main content
The main goal of FREMFARM project is to promote competencies in communication and innovation with professional education students in pharmacy and to anchor these skills in professional ethics and values. Feedback from the professional training field emphasizes the importance of these skills in order for the graduates to be prepared for working life. These are complex skills that are difficult to learn using traditional forms of learning such as lectures or laboratory teaching. Such skills require maturity, and it is, therefore, necessary that skills training and reflection should be integrated across the study program, from the first to the fifth academic year.
The purpose of this project is therefore to develop, test, evaluate and adopt student-active forms of learning that make the candidates:
familiar with reflection and the active use of values as an aid in decision-making
capable of communicating effectively with patients, relatives, colleagues and, other healthcare professionals
capable of being innovative and solution-focused in the face of a rapidly changing working life
capable of recognizing relationships between course content and working life
The projects' activities are divided into 4 work packages:
Prosjektet er organisert i 4 arbeidspakker.
Work package 1: Values and reflection
In this work package, we want to integrate key values into the students' professional identity. The 5 ethical guidelines for pharmacists, i.e. the promotion of health, respect for the individual, professional integrity, trust, and collegiality, will form the basis for the work.
Work package 2: Communication and innovation
In this work package, we will work on developing, testing, and evaluating new ways to develop knowledge and skills in communication and innovation among pharmacy students.
Work package 3: Coherence
This work package is about creating more coherence in pharmacy studies. It was initially based on students' request. The aim of this WP is to help students to understand how the different topics are connected, and why they are relevant for future working life. A digital course with short assignments is currently being tested, which will demonstrate the relevance of the subjects that have been taught so far.
Work package 4: Skills development
Professional skills development among the employees is the focus area in this work package. We want to build a supportive and sharing culture among the teachers so that they can learn from each other. Increased focus on adapting learning outcomes with teaching and assessment methods is also part of competence development.
Contact us if you are interested in joining the project www.fremfarm.com