'DIVE INTO RESEARCH': AN INNOVATIVE PROJECT FOR PHARMACY STUDENTS

The Pharmacy degree of the University of Castilla-La Mancha is included in the branch of Health Sciences and its main objective is to train specialists in all aspects of drugs and medicines, in accordance with European Directives relating to the pharmaceutical profession. It requires five years of full time study, and there are two semesters per year. The first two years are foundation years in which students study anatomy, biology, chemistry, basic biochemical science and are introduced to pharmacology. The remaining three years are devoted to higher levels of biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences, together with specialized clinical pharmacy studies. During the fourth and fifth year, considerable time is spent in clinical placements in community and hospital pharmacies, where valuable practical experience is gained. This degree also includes a series of transversal competences such as critic reasoning, understanding scientific information, organization, planning and execution of complex tasks, etc; which must be fulfilled during these five years. In order to build up this aspect, we consider relevant to offer extracurricular activities related to research, especially in the early stages of learning. For this purpose, the implantation of the 'Dive into Research' project in our Faculty aims to inculcate the ability to gather, comprehend, evaluate and report on information and ideas following the scientific method. Therefore, students will progressively acquire an integral view of the scientific knowledge from the very beginning of their careers, in parallel to their development as pharmacists. For that reason, the program is open to all students. It takes place on July after the final exams in order not to compromise the study time, and consists in 30 day micro-projects conducted by the Faculty Members involved in the degree in Pharmacy. We can divide 'Dive into Research' in three stages: student selection, development of the project, and evaluation stage. Selection Stage (Research Proposals and Candidate Distribution): a list of the different work topics proposed by the Faculty Members is published. Each student selects among them according to an order of priority based on their academic file (number of credits completed and/or average mark). Execution Stage: during 30 days, students carry out their investigations under the supervision of their corresponding mentors. Mentors are responsible for teaching the student the specific field they are involved in, as well as all the other general attributes that make a good scientist. Finally, students must complete a brief report and give an oral presentation outlining their main results. Evaluation Stage: the evaluation of the "Dive into Research" program will be conducted by the Coordination Team through different satisfaction tests and personal interviews with tutors and trainees who have participated in this project. Herein, we would like to report the results obtained from 'Dive into Research' and sum up the benefits that students can obtain from an early introduction to research.