Pharmacoeconomic Education in Brazilian Schools of Pharmacy.

PHP187 THe FuTure oF educaTion in HTa and HealTH economics Carroll C., Beecroft C., Miller L. The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK Objectives: An increasing range of online education is available to those working in the field of pharmaco-economics and Health Technology Assessment (HTA). The aim of this study was to explore the market for free online education in HTA and to assess the practicalities of delivering a free, interactive short-course. MethOds: We delivered a 5-week online course at the end of 2013 following the principles of the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) approach: the HTA MOOC. The programme covered the basics of HTA: What it is; how new technologies are identified; how they are evaluated; the principal means of assessing clinical and cost-effectiveness; and how HTA is used within different health systems to inform reimbursement decisions. The course was provided through the Coursesites, a free, open-access, education platform. Materials were adapted from an existing online MSc programme. Descriptive statistics of participants were recorded and a survey conducted of participants’ experiences. Results: 2039 individuals registered for the HTA MOOC, of which 1508 completed a voluntary survey giving basic sociodemographic data about themselves. Participants were from Europe (55%), Asia (16%) and North America (13%) and accessed the MOOC to gain knowledge about the subject (78%), and specifically for career development (56%). 531/2039 (26%) of those registered in Week 1 completed the MOOC (i.e. submitted all required weekly assessments by the end of Week 5), compared to an average of 5-6% for MOOCs generally [THES 2013]. Students reported the principal strength of the programme to be the quality and usefulness of the learning materials, and the principal issue to be time required (workload was considered by some to exceed the 4-5 hours/week intended). cOnclusiOns: The MOOC approach offers scope for delivering flexible, effective and accessible education to small or large international cohorts of professionals, patients and providers working within HTA and pharmaco-economics.