Student Perceptions and the Impact of Mnemonics on Knowledge Retention and Application in Pharmacology Education

To assess the longitudinal impact of using mnemonics in a Pharmacology course for second-year PharmD students on their exam performance and perceptions of mnemonics' helpfulness in knowledge retention and application in clinical settings. Thirteen mnemonics were taught in a pharmacology course covering endocrine and autonomic pharmacology topics in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 academic years. A non-anonymous survey was administered after exams to gather students' self-reported use of mnemonics to answer exam questions. On the end-of-the-semester anonymous course evaluation, students rated the impact of using mnemonics on their knowledge retention, application, critical thinking, learning anxiety, and confidence when answering exam questions. To longitudinally evaluate students' perceptions of mnemonics' effectiveness, an anonymous follow-up survey was administered to the same student cohort at the end of a Therapeutics course, five months later. Mnemonics' use significantly improved students' exam performance on six out of 14 exam questions based on mnemonics-linked concepts. Students reported that using mnemonics improved their knowledge retention and clinical application (98.21% in 2020-21; 97.56% in 2021-22), enhanced critical thinking (89.29% in 2020-21; 87.80% in 2021-22), increased confidence during test-taking (96.43% in 2020-21; 90.24% in 2021-22), and reduced learning anxiety (80.36% in 2020-21; 60.97% in 2021-22). The longitudinal survey validated initial perceptions survey findings and reaffirmed that students find mnemonics memorable when they aid in comprehending and organizing concepts. Mnemonic use enhances students' exam performance, and students perceive mnemonics as promoting knowledge retention, application, critical thinking, confidence during test-taking, and reduced learning anxiety.