A qualitative study on the perception of Australian and Malaysian academic teaching staff in an undergraduate B. Pharm program on case-based learning

Objective: To determine the perceptions of lecturers towards case-based learning (CBL), and to elicit their feedback and opinion regarding the design of CBL sessions within the pharmacy curricula.
Methods: One-on-one interviews were conducted with 10 academic staff members involved in teaching an undergraduate B.Pharm program. All sessions were audio-recorded and field notes were compiled. Recordings were then transcribed and a qualitative thematic analysis of responses was performed.
Results: Four key themes were identified: (1) Perceived benefits of CBL; (2) Challenges in implementing CBL within the curricula; (3) Characteristics of effective and engaging CBL; and (4) Relevance and implementation of CBL within the curriculum.
Conclusions: While benefits of CBL identified included application to students' future roles as pharmacists, there were also challenges such as the design of cases as well as time constraints. Respondents also underlined the need for skilled facilitators and the importance of working in small groups. In order to ensure effective implementation of CBL sessions, careful attention should thus be paid to selecting facilitators and providing the appropriate training on how to facilitate the sessions within the allotted time, as well as with regard to designing cases.