PHARMACOLOGY education globally is set for improvements, after a new study co-led by Monash University's Professor Paul White, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (pictured).
The research, involving 200 educators from 22 countries, has identified 25 core concepts that all students around the world who have taken a pharmacology course or unit should be able to understand and apply.
The study was conducted under the banner of the International Union of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology, with White saying it would have "great significance for the international pharmacology community".
"It's the first time to our knowledge that a truly international initiative has produced a consensus list of discipline-focused core concepts," he said.
"This will allow medical, pharmacy, nursing, science and other educators to focus on the knowledge that matters for their future graduates."
The study found that in recent decades, a focus on the most critical and fundamental concepts had proven highly advantageous to students and educators in many scientific disciplines.
"However pharmacology, unlike microbiology, biochemistry or physiology, lacks a consensus list of such core concepts," White noted.
Although pharmacology is taught across a broad range of health professional, biomedical and basic science contexts, the "enormous volume of pharmacology content is often given limited time".
Professor White said the study helped address perceived gaps in pharmacy knowledge among health professional graduates, such as the ability to link theory with practice.
The next steps include further definition of each core concept, and developing resources to help pharmacology educators globally teach and assess the concepts.
The research was also co-led by Professor Clare Guilding from the UK's University of Newcastle, along with contributions from Monash's Dr Betty Exintaris, Dr Nilushi Karunaratne and Associate Professor Jen Short.
The study and all 25 core concepts can be viewed online in the British Journal of Pharmacology by CLICKING HERE.
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