Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Presentations

Coordination of Medicinal Chemistry with an Integrated Pharmacology and Therapeutics Course Sequence and Combined Recitation

Document Type

Poster Session

Event Date

7-2004

Conference/Event

American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy Annual Meeting

Location

Salt Lake City, UT

Abstract

Objectives: To develop a curriculum structure that would encourage students to apply medicinal chemistry principles in decision making associated with the use of medicinal agents to treat disease.

Methods: A parallel offering of a medicinal chemistry course sequence with an integrated pharmacology and therapeutics course sequence will run across the second and third years of the professional curriculum. A separate recitation course has been created that will allow the integration of multiple disease states and provide an opportunity for medicinal chemistry principles to be reinforced in the context of a patient care focus. Success of the structure will be assessed using our year-end assessment exam. The exam is application based and assesses the students' ability to apply what they have learned to simulated practice scenarios. Feedback from students will be sought regarding their ability to learn the required concepts.

Results: Implementation of this structure will begin with the Spring Quarter of academic year 2003–04. Performance data for the first class will be available for presentation.

Implications: Schools and Colleges of Pharmacy are pushing integration of the pharmaceutical sciences and therapeutic course offerings. This trend is gradually diminishing the strong scientific underpinnings of the pharmacy profession. Graduates today appreciate the application of drug therapy to disease state management but lack a strong scientific understanding of how and why drugs actually work. We anticipate that our experience with this approach will allow us to educate pharmacists who understand how to use medicinal chemistry to help provide better pharmaceutical care.

Keywords

Medicinal chemistry, pharmacology, therapeutics, pharmacy education

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