My First Patient Program to introduce first-year pharmacy students to health promotion and disease prevention.
OBJECTIVE
To implement and assess the effectiveness of a program to teach pharmacy students the importance of taking personal responsibility for their health.


METHODS
The My First Patient Program was created and lectures were incorporated into an existing first-year course to introduce the concepts of health beliefs, behavior modification, stress management, substance abuse, and nutrition. Each student received a comprehensive health screening and health risk assessment which they used to develop a personal health portfolio and identify strategies to attain and/or maintain their personal health goals.


RESULTS
Student learning was assessed through written assignments and student reflections, follow-up surveys, and course evaluations. Students' attainment of health goals and their ability to identify their personal health status illustrated the positive impact of the program.


CONCLUSIONS
This program serves as a model for colleges and schools of pharmacy and for other health professions in the instruction of health promotion, disease prevention, and behavior modification.
Maffeo
Carrie
C
College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Butler University, USA. cmaffeo@butler.edu
Chase
Patricia
P
Brown
Bonnie
B
Tuohy
Kevin
K
Kalsekar
Iftekhar
I
D001521:Behavior Therapy; D004512:Education, Pharmacy; D015438:Health Behavior; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D040361:Healthy People Programs / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D011322:Primary Prevention / Q000458:organization & administration*; D016730:Program Development; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012647:Self-Assessment; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D013339:Students, Pharmacy; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders