Medicalization of pharmacology teaching: an urgent need in the medical curriculum.

Abstract

Information overload, proliferation of new drugs and curricular reforms have been recognized as three of the major factors contributing to the insufficient pharmacological education of medical students. To remedy this situation, it has been recommended that a curriculum more selective in knowledge content coupled with a restricted list of drugs be developed. Based on our own teaching experience, common educational objectives, competencies to be achieved, profiles of morbidity and mortality of the Mexican population, and knowledge of the literature, we have identified what should constitute the core content of pharmacology courses in medical schools. Selected themes were grouped in three categories and the number of drugs that undergraduate medical students have to manage is limited to 139. We have developed a concrete, medicine-focused, core pharmacology program dealing with themes and drugs that will best constitute the primary teaching/learning material for undergraduate medical students.