Comparison of student pharmacists’ academic performance with and without required attendance in a pharmacotherapy course

Background: Studies evaluating the association between absenteeism and academic performance have had mixed results; some demonstrate a positive correlation between course attendance and academic performance. Objective: To compare student pharmacists’ performance in a cohort with graded attendance and those without a graded attendance in a pharmacotherapy course and to evaluate student performance within the required attendance cohort on course learning objectives. Methods: All students enrolled during Fall 2021 and Fall 2022 were included in this study. Attendance data for the graded attendance cohort and the Assessment performance data for both cohorts were exported. With the student’s t-test, the average examination performance on college-level learning outcomes (CLLOs) between groups was compared. Results: The comparison between the graded and ungraded attendance cohorts demonstrated a significant difference in academic performance for all three levels of Bloom’s taxonomy, and one CLLO on Examination One and in all categories on Examination Two. Within the graded attendance cohort, comparing students who met unit attendance competency with those who did not resulted in a significant difference. Conclusion: The results of this study support graded attendance in a pharmacotherapy course. Student pharmacists demonstrated better academic performance when attendance was graded than a cohort without a graded attendance requirement.