Teaching Entrepreneurship in Specific Courses: The Case of Pharmacy Students

Entrepreneurship encompasses the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to identify, create, and exploit opportunities for the development of novel services and products to address challenges and drive professional growth. While entrepreneurial activity within healthcare is gaining traction, it remains an under-explored domain in the relevant literature, including Pharmaceutical Practice. Consequently, academics face challenges in effectively developing, teaching, and evaluating entrepreneurial concepts among Pharmacy students. Aim: This study aims to analyze the current methods used to teach and assess entrepreneurship in undergraduate pharmacy curricula. Method: A scoping review was conducted following the PRISMA-ScR guidelines. The research question and descriptors were defined using an adapted PICO strategy. Searches were performed in Embase, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science. Inclusion criteria required studies to involve pharmacy students, describe the teaching and/or assessment of entrepreneurship, detail pedagogical strategies and/or evaluation methods, and be published in English, Portuguese, Spanish, or French. Two independent reviewers screened titles and abstracts, and subsequently the full articles; any conflicts were resolved by consulting a third reviewer. Data were charted in an Excel® spreadsheet and subsequently synthesized and analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results: Twelve studies met the inclusion criteria. The US contributed the largest proportion of the included literature. All studies described the teaching methodology, and seven detailed the assessment methods. Active learning strategies were utilized in seven studies to teach entrepreneurship, with non-traditional models being the preferred type of assessment. Furthermore, innovative active learning methods and teaching tools were commonly employed to enhance the students’ learning experience. Conclusion: Active learning strategies are the predominant method for teaching entrepreneurship to Pharmacy students. Incorporating tools that simulate real-world scenarios and immersing students in case-based simulations contribute significantly to achieving deeper learning. Non-traditional assessment methods are more frequently utilized to evaluate students’ acquisition of new knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Future research should prioritize a more comprehensive description of assessment methodologies to strengthen the evidence base in pharmaceutical education.