A Narrative Overview of the Effectiveness of E-learning in Pharmacy Education

Abstract

In response to the increasing use of a range of technologies within pharmacy education, this review aimed to establish the effectiveness and acceptance of e-learning within pharmacy education and to identify limitations within the research carried out since 2013. The e-learning interventions studied were defined as any online or computer-based technology* used to deliver pharmacy education to pharmacy students or qualified pharmacists in a remote (out of classroom) setting. Evidence of short-term effectiveness of e-learning was found and a small number of studies provided evidence of long-term effectiveness. In comparisons, e-learning was demonstrated to be at least as effective as traditional face-to-face teaching methods and superior to no training at all. Six studies also demonstrated that e-learning could result in a change of pharmacists’ practice, while no evidence was found that e-learning could lead to patient benefit or improvements in care. E-learning also appears to be an engaging learning method, which is generally well received among participants. Despite a significant increase in the number of publications investigating e-learning within pharmacy education in the past five years, further research is still required to address limitations within the current literature and to fully establish the effectiveness of e-learning within pharmacy education.