Toggle Main Menu Toggle Search

Open Access padlockePrints

Developing an international concept-based curriculum for pharmacology education: The promise of core concepts and concept inventories

Lookup NU author(s): Professor Clare GuildingORCiD

Downloads


Licence

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).


Abstract

© 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.


Publication metadata

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

Data Access Statement: This article is a review article and does not contain original data.

PubMed id: 38093035


Altmetrics

Altmetrics provided by Altmetric


Share