Integrating Science and Practice in Pharmacy Curricula

An integrated curriculum is one where the summation of different academic disciplines forms a coherent whole and, importantly, where the relationships between the different disciplines have been carefully and strategically considered when forming the composite. Within pharmacy curriculum integration is important in order to produce graduates who have the capacity to apply their knowledge to a range of complex problems where available information is often incomplete. This paper discusses the development of an integrated curriculum in which students are presented with an organized, logical sequence of material, but still challenged to make their own integrations and develop as integrative thinkers. An evidence-based model upon which an interdisciplinary undergraduate pharmacy curriculum can be built is presented.