Identifying the core concepts of pharmacology education: A global initiative

Paul J White; Clare Guilding; Tom Angelo; John P Kelly; Laurel Gorman; Steven J Tucker; Ashleigh Fun; Jae Han; Guanliang Chen; Yassmin Samak; Anna-Marie Babey; Fabiana A Caetano; Sudhir Chandra Sarangi; Jennifer Koenig; Haiping Hao; Joseph Goldfarb; Kelly Karpa; Luciene Vieira; Carolina Restini; Margaret Cunningham; Patrik Aronsson; Roisin Kelly-Laubscher; Mark Hernandez; Patangi K Rangachari; Janet Mifsud; Fatima Mraiche; Ramzi Sabra; Octavio Piñeros; Xuechu Zhen; Helen Kwanashie; Betty Exintaris; Nilushi Karunaratne; Kuniaki Ishii; Yannee Liu

doi:10.1111/bph.16000

Identifying the core concepts of pharmacology education: A global initiative

Br J Pharmacol. 2023 May;180(9):1197-1209. doi: 10.1111/bph.16000. Epub 2023 Jan 3.

Authors

Paul J White¹, Clare Guilding², Tom Angelo³, John P Kelly⁴, Laurel Gorman⁵, Steven J Tucker⁶, Ashleigh Fun¹, Jae Han¹, Guanliang Chen⁷, Yassmin Samak¹, Anna-Marie Babey⁸, Fabiana A Caetano⁹, Sudhir Chandra Sarangi¹⁰, Jennifer Koenig¹¹, Haiping Hao¹², Joseph Goldfarb¹³, Kelly Karpa¹⁴, Luciene Vieira¹⁵, Carolina Restini¹⁶, Margaret Cunningham¹⁷, Patrik Aronsson¹⁸, Roisin Kelly-Laubscher¹⁹, Mark Hernandez²⁰, Patangi K Rangachari²¹, Janet Mifsud²², Fatima Mraiche²³, Ramzi Sabra²⁴, Octavio Piñeros²⁵, Xuechu Zhen²⁶, Helen Kwanashie²⁷, Betty Exintaris¹, Nilushi Karunaratne¹, Kuniaki Ishii²⁸, Yannee Liu¹

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.
² School of Medicine, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK.
³ UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.
⁴ Pharmacology and Therapeutics, School of Medicine, National University of Ireland Galway, Galway, Ireland.
⁵ Department Medical Education, University of Central Florida College of Medicine, Orlando, Florida, USA.
⁶ School of Medicine, Medical Science and Nutrition, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK.
⁷ Centre for Learning Analytics at Monash, Faculty of Information Technology, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia.
⁸ Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales, Australia.
⁹ Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada.
¹⁰ Department of Pharmacology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
¹¹ Division of Medical Sciences and Graduate Entry Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.
¹² Department of Medicinal Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing, China.
¹³ Department of Pharmacological Sciences and Institute for Systems Biomedicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, USA.
¹⁴ Department of Medical Education and Family Medicine, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee, USA.
¹⁵ Departamento de Farmacologia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
¹⁶ Pharmacology and Toxicology Department, College of Osteopathic Medicine, Michigan State University, Clinton Township, Michigan, USA.
¹⁷ Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences (SIPBS), University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK.
¹⁸ Department of Pharmacology, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.
¹⁹ Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, College of Medicine and Health, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland.
²⁰ Division of Anatomy and Molecular Medicine, Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine, Dothan, Alabama, USA.
²¹ Department of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
²² Department of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, University of Malta, Msida, Malta.
²³ College of Pharmacy, QU-Health, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar.
²⁴ Faculty of Medicine, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon.
²⁵ Department of Family Medicine, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health, Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia.
²⁶ Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Neuropsychiatric Diseases Research and College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Soochow University, Soochow, China.
²⁷ Department of Nursing Science, Faculty of Health Sciences, National Open University of Nigeria, Abuja, Nigeria.
²⁸ Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Yamagata University, Yamagata, Japan.

PMID: 36470846
DOI: 10.1111/bph.16000

Abstract

Background and purpose: In recent decades, a focus on the most critical and fundamental concepts has proven highly advantageous to students and educators in many science disciplines. Pharmacology, unlike microbiology, biochemistry, or physiology, lacks a consensus list of such core concepts.

Experimental approach: We sought to develop a research-based, globally relevant list of core concepts that all students completing a foundational pharmacology course should master. This two-part project consisted of exploratory and refinement phases. The exploratory phase involved empirical data mining of the introductory sections of five key textbooks, in parallel with an online survey of over 200 pharmacology educators from 17 countries across six continents. The refinement phase involved three Delphi rounds involving 24 experts from 15 countries across six continents.

Key results: The exploratory phase resulted in a consolidated list of 74 candidate core concepts. In the refinement phase, the expert group produced a consensus list of 25 core concepts of pharmacology.

Conclusion and implications: This list will allow pharmacology educators everywhere to focus their efforts on the conceptual knowledge perceived to matter most by experts within the discipline. Next steps for this project include defining and unpacking each core concept and developing resources to help pharmacology educators globally teach and assess these concepts within their educational contexts.

Keywords: Delphi method; core concepts; discipline-based educational research; global education; pharmacology education; postgraduate; text mining; undergraduate.