Building clinical judgment and human connection in pharmacy practice
Audience
Community pharmacists and Clinicians in Quebec, Alberta, Nova Scotia, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan who are interested in learning more about Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP).
Role
Instructional Design · Learning Experience Design · eLearning Development · Clinical Content Design
Tools
- 🧱 Build
- UI Bakery
- Articulate 360
- Rise
- Storyline
- 🤖 AI support
- 🎨 Articulate
- 📚 Perplexity
- 🧠 NotebookLM
- 💻 Claude
What is PrEP?
Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis
- A preventive HIV medication for people who are HIV‑negative, taken before exposure to greatly reduce the chance of getting HIV.
- One of the most powerful HIV prevention tools developed in the last decade, alongside condoms, treatment as prevention (U=U), and harm reduction.
- A key part of global and national strategies to end the HIV epidemic by 2030.
- Strong PrEP uptake has been linked to major drops in new HIV diagnoses – for example, a 38% decrease in high‑PrEP‑use U.S. states over a decade, and a 50–60% decrease among gay and bisexual men in Ottawa after PrEP scale‑up.
The Challenge
- Pharmacist-led PrEP and PEP are expanding on paper, but day‑to‑day implementation is uneven across provinces.
- Many pharmacists have limited, fragmented training on PrEP, PEP, and HIV risk assessment specific to community pharmacy practice.
- Duplicated, province‑by‑province resources waste effort without guaranteeing consistent quality or messaging.
- HIV, sexuality, and substance use remain highly stigmatized topics, making conversations in the pharmacy uncomfortable for both patients and providers.
Prescribing isn’t just putting pen to paper—it’s sitting with a patient’s fears, dreams, and daily struggles, then crafting a path forward that honors their whole story.
The Solution
- A focused course built specifically for community pharmacists in Quebec, Alberta, Nova Scotia, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan.
- Turns complex provincial rules for PrEP and PEP into clear, step‑by‑step pathways pharmacists can follow in daily practice.
- Uses realistic cases and branching scenarios so learners can safely practise prescribing, lab follow‑up, and documentation.
- Provides practical scripts and phrases for talking about HIV, sexuality, and substance use in ways that reduce stigma and build trust
- Centers empathy, cultural safety, and person‑first care so pharmacists feel prepared not only to prescribe, but to truly support patients.
This isn’t a course about a pill. It’s a course about understanding communities, confronting stigma, and building the clinical judgment and communication skills pharmacists need to practice with confidence and compassion.
Preparation
Audience, goals, and constraints.
Preparation
Defined the target audience (Canadian pharmacists and clinicians), clarified performance goals around safe PrEP initiation and monitoring, and mapped constraints such as bilingual delivery, provincial regulations, and limited tool access.
Process
From analysis to scenarios.
Process
Used an ADDIE‑inspired, iterative process to translate guideline analysis into branching patient scenarios, rubric‑based assessment, and a dashboard‑style interface built in Storyline 360 with close SME and learner collaboration.
Assessment
Rubrics & performance.
Assessment
Designed gold–silver–bronze–red‑flag rubrics across communication, accuracy, and decision‑making, with an 80% performance threshold and targeted feedback that preserves the integrity of the scenarios.
Key design principles:
- scenario-based learning grounded in real-world pharmacy contexts
- embedded historical and social context to address stigma at its roots
- alignment with regulatory standards and evolving scopes of practice
My Approach
Evidence-Centered Design (ECD) + ADDIE
- Analysis: learner needs analysis, scope-of-practice review, stigma literature
- Design: ECD framework, learner personas, competency-based learning objectives
- Development: branching scenarios in Storyline 360, Rise 360 modules, UI Bakery dashboard
- Evaluation: scenario-based assessments aligned to clinical judgment outcomes
What Learners Do
- Understand the community: explore the social, historical, and cultural context that shapes patient experiences and health outcomes
- Recognize and reduce stigma: learn how stigma operates in healthcare settings and practice communication strategies that center dignity and trust
- Build clinical judgment: move beyond memorization to apply clinical frameworks in realistic, branching patient scenarios
- Anticipate regulatory shifts: align practice with emerging professional standards and scope-of-practice expansions
Key Design Features
- Adaptable structure for any clinical service or medication class
- Scenario-based learning with branching pathways
- Social and historical context is embedded in every module
- Trauma-informed, culturally responsive instructional design
Regulatory Alignment
- Anticipates expanded pharmacy scopes of practice
- Aligns with evolving clinical service standards
- Supports professional competency frameworks
- Prepares pharmacists for emerging public health roles
Results
- Increased pharmacist confidence in patient-centred counselling for stigmatized conditions
- Stronger clinical decision-making through applied, context-rich scenarios
- A deeper understanding of the social determinants and histories that shape patient care
- A scalable instructional model ready to support evolving pharmacy practice standards