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Lookup NU author(s): Professor Clare GuildingORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).
© 2023 The Authors. British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Pharmacological Society.Over recent years, studies have shown that science and health profession graduates demonstrate gaps in their fundamental pharmacology knowledge and ability to apply pharmacology concepts in practice. This article reviews the current challenges faced by pharmacology educators, including the exponential growth in discipline knowledge and competition for curricular time. We then argue that pharmacology education should focus on essential concepts that enable students to develop beyond ‘know’ towards ‘know how to’. A concept-based approach will help educators prioritize and benchmark their pharmacology curriculum, facilitate integration of pharmacology with other disciplines in the curriculum, create alignment between universities and improve application of pharmacology knowledge to professional contexts such as safe prescribing practices. To achieve this, core concepts first need to be identified and unpacked, and methods for teaching and assessment using concept inventories developed. The International Society for Basic and Clinical Pharmacology Education Section (IUPHAR-Ed) Core Concepts of Pharmacology (CCP) initiative involves over 300 educators from the global pharmacology community. CCP has identified and defined the core concepts of pharmacology, together with key underpinning sub-concepts. To realize these benefits, pharmacology educators must develop methods to teach and assess core concepts. Work to develop concept inventories is ongoing, including identifying student misconceptions of the core concepts and creating a bank of multiple-choice questions to assess student understanding. Future work aims to develop and validate materials and methods to help educators embed core concepts within curricula. Potential strategies that educators can use to overcome factors that inhibit adoption of core concepts are presented.
Author(s): Guilding C, Kelly-Laubscher R, Netere A, Babey A-M, Restini C, Cunningham M, Kelly JP, Koenig J, Karpa K, Hawes M, Tucker SJ, Angelo TA, White PJ
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology
Year: 2024
Pages: epub ahead of print
Online publication date: 13/12/2023
Acceptance date: 06/12/2023
Date deposited: 22/01/2024
ISSN (print): 0306-5251
ISSN (electronic): 1365-2125
Publisher: John Wiley and Sons Inc
URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/bcp.15985
DOI: 10.1111/bcp.15985
PubMed id: 38093035
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