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The effects of a required fourth‐year clinical pharmacology course on student attitudes and subsequent performance
Author(s) -
Nierenberg David W,
Stukel Therese A
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
clinical pharmacology and therapeutics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.941
H-Index - 188
eISSN - 1532-6535
pISSN - 0009-9236
DOI - 10.1038/clpt.1986.213
Subject(s) - clinical pharmacology , internship , medical education , percentile , medicine , percentile rank , pharmacology , psychology , mathematics , statistics
Beginning with the class graduating June 1984, Dartmouth Medical School introduced a required clinical pharmacology course. Approximately 89% of the fourth‐year students felt that the course was “essential” to their future careers as physicians. As interns, 80% found the course frequently useful or essential during their internships; 84% felt that they were either slightly or much better prepared than their fellow interns with respect to their therapeutic knowledge and skills. Average student performance on a pretest (33% correct answers) improved dramatically on a posttest (87% correct; P < 0.001). Finally, although student performance on all sections of Part II of the national board examinations showed statistically nonsignificant trends toward improvement (from the 48th to the 52nd percentile), performance on questions testing core concepts in clinical pharmacology improved from the 38th percentile to the 74th percentile (P < 0.0001). This required fourth‐year course in clinical pharmacology was evaluated favorably by our students and resulted in objective improvement in their therapeutic knowledge and skills. Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (1986) 40, 488–493; doi: 10.1038/clpt.1986.213