Guilding Clare, Kelly-Laubscher Roisin, Netere Adeladlew, Babey Anna-Marie, Restini Carolina, Cunningham Margaret, Kelly John P, Koenig Jennifer, Karpa Kelly, Hawes Martin, Tucker Steven J, Angelo Thomas A, White Paul J
School of Medical Education, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK.
Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics, College of Medicine and Health, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland.
Br J Clin Pharmacol. 2023 Dec 13. doi: 10.1111/bcp.15985.
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.
近年来，研究表明，理工科和卫生专业毕业生在基础药理学知识以及将药理学概念应用于实践的能力方面存在差距。本文回顾了药理学教育工作者目前面临的挑战，包括学科知识的指数级增长以及对课程时间的竞争。然后我们认为，药理学教育应专注于基本概念，使学生能够从“知道”发展到“知道如何做”。基于概念的方法将有助于教育工作者对药理学课程进行优先排序和设定基准，促进药理学与课程中其他学科的整合，使各大学之间保持一致，并提高药理学知识在专业背景（如安全处方实践）中的应用。要实现这一目标，首先需要确定并剖析核心概念，并开发使用概念清单的教学和评估方法。国际基础与临床药理学教育学会（IUPHAR-Ed）的药理学核心概念（CCP）倡议涉及全球药理学界的300多名教育工作者。CCP已经确定并定义了药理学的核心概念以及关键的支撑子概念。为了实现这些益处，药理学教育工作者必须开发教授和评估核心概念的方法。开发概念清单的工作正在进行中，包括识别学生对核心概念的误解，并创建一系列多项选择题来评估学生的理解。未来的工作旨在开发和验证有助于教育工作者将核心概念融入课程的材料和方法。本文还介绍了教育工作者可以用来克服阻碍采用核心概念的因素的潜在策略。
