Entry requirements

The general rules laid down by the Curriculum Committee of the Faculty of Pharmacy apply (see programme curriculum). For entry to the separate course, students are required to fulfil the basic requirements for university entry and one of the following:

- have at least 40 points from the Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy course or the course for a degree in nursing, physiotherapy, medicine, dentistry or another caring science.

- have at least 60 points from the Master of Science in Chemistry course at Uppsala University

- have at least 40 points in biology.

Other education will be assessed individually.

Aims

Having completed the course, the student shall

- have a basic knowledge of epidemiological and health economics research methodology

- have a basic knowledge of psychometric measurement and its application to patient-reported outcomes (PRO)

- be able to analyse scientific articles critically from a methodological and logical point of view

- be able to retrieve and evaluate information on positive and negative effects of drugs (risk-benefit assessment) from a clinical and health economics point of view

- be prepared to give information on these matters to patients, customers, health service personnel and the general public in his or her future professional role

- have a basic knowledge of evidence-based pharmacy

- have a basic knowledge of the population's state of health, illnesses, quality of life and use of drugs and how they are influenced by different individual and societal factors

- have a knowledge of the factors that are of importance for compliance with drug treatment, the consequences of lack of compliance and measures against it.

Content

Public health, clinical trials of drugs, experimental and observational studies, causality, epidemiological study design, the outcome of pharmacotherapy (efficacy and effectiveness), meta-analyses, random and systematic errors (bias), confounders, statistical analysis and register epidemiology. The cost of drugs to society and health economics study design, such as burden-of-illness studies, cost-minimisation studies, cost-effectiveness studies, cost-utility studies and cost-benefit studies. Fundamental theory of psychometric measurement and patient-reported outcomes (PRO), e.g. health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Factors which are of importance for compliance with drug treatment. Methodological aspects and problems in studies of compliance.

Instruction

The tuition comprises lectures, seminars and group exercises.

Compulsory parts of the course: Participation in the course introduction and seminars and group exercises.

Assessment

Written examinations are held at the end of the course. Students are required to pass the written examination (examination code) and compulsory parts of the course (examination code). Repetition of compulsory parts of the course may be done in connection with the next course at the earliest and then only if there is a vacancy. Students may resit the examination four to five weeks after completion of the course. Students are allowed to sit the examination up to six times, i.e. the first examination and five re-examinations.