Who should register

This program was designed for any pharmacist having direct patient care responsibilities or those consulting with prescribers. In addition, pharmacists with responsibility for writing newsletters and practice guidelines may benefit from the program. In particular, pharmacists working with P & T committees will find the skills learned immediately applicable. Finally, pharmacists participating in journal club and pharmacists precepting pharmacy students and residents will find the program helpful.

Learning Objectives

Accessing and selecting literature (~ 4 hours)

• Describe the services available via PubMed
• Utilize successful, tailored search strategies to identify a reasonable number of articles via PubMed
• Describe a method for identifying the most relevant articles for reading
• Locate articles available through online journals
• Order articles not available online through alternate sources

Interpreting and evaluating the literature  (~ 26 hours)

• Describe the sections of a research article and the elements that need to be included for the reader to confidently interpret the findings
• Classify research studies according to type of study design, and identify the particular advantages and disadvantages of commonly used designs.
• Explain key terms and concepts in statistics used in pharmacy and medical journals, such as statistical significance, p value, confidence interval and power.
• Interpret commonly used statistics and recognize when common statistical tests have been applied and interpreted appropriately or inappropriately.

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Program Faculty

	Michael Brown, Pharm.D. Associate Professor University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy

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Continuing Education

Participants must pass (70% or greater) the following within the six week course offering:

1. One assignment
2. Two online examinations

Following successful completion of the assignment and two quizzes and a course evaluation, an electronic statement of credit will be available within four weeks. Statements of credit will be available via the CE Management System.

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Accreditation

The University of Minnesota, College of Pharmacy is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education as a provider of continuing pharmacy education.

Approved for 30 contact hours. Following successful completion (70%) of exams/assignment and completion of the activity evaluation, an electronic statement of credit will be available within four weeks. Statements of credit will be available via the CPE Management System. The Universal Activity Number is 031-000-09-011-H04-P. Initial release: July 6, 2009 Expiration Date: September 1, 2009

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Program Design

The Applying Medical Literature in Practice Course is a self-directed, online course totaling 30 hours when completed. In addition to assigned readings, the online course provides lectures, self-assessment questions and practice exercises.

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Program Schedule

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Prerequisites

It is strongly suggested that participants meet the following:

1. Computer and technology requirements

Please contact our office if you have any questions about these requirements. Assistance is available.

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Tuition

Tuition for this course is $429 which includes:

• access to the secure course web site
• technical support
• online course materials
• an ACPE statement of credit (following successful completion)

**You will not be considered registered until participant information and payment are received in our office.

Discounts may apply if you are registering with a group or your institution offers reimbursement.

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Registration

Before registering, be sure that you have carefully read through the course prerequisites.
Registration should be received at least one week before the course start date, to guarantee a timely start and avoid a late registration fee. See our policies for more information

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