Premium
Medical Pharmacology Education at a Crossroads: Looking in a Future Direction
Author(s) -
Hernandez Mark,
Parker Robert,
MacGregor Gordon
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.2021.35.s1.03033
Subject(s) - graduation (instrument) , medical education , osteopathic medicine in the united states , medicine , curriculum , medical school , psychology , family medicine , alternative medicine , pedagogy , mathematics , geometry , pathology
After more than a year of pharmacology delivery through a virtual curriculum to help prepare medical students to successfully complete the USMLE Step‐1 and/or COMLEX Level‐1 (for osteopathic medical students), these high stakes board exams will transition to a Pass/Fail system in 2022. To reflect on the effectiveness of the pharmacology educational approaches used before and after the rapid implementation of emergency remote teaching, board results outcomes, faculty student evaluations and student feedback were reviewed and compared to results from national satisfaction instruments during the past decade. Our hypothesis is that satisfaction with the pre‐clerkship pharmacology instruction will increase during the clerkship years as measured by the satisfaction instruments after graduation. Methods The aggregate data published between 2010‐2020 by national satisfaction instruments including: 1) Academic Year Graduating Seniors Survey Report published by the AACOM and 2) All‐Schools Summary Report Medical School Graduation Questionnaire published by the AAMC, was used to develop a construct of satisfaction scores in pharmacology. Pharmacology faculty student evaluations from the Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine were analyzed using a thematic analysis method for student satisfaction. Class performance outcomes on boards were also analyzed. Results The population of medical students graduating has increased over the past decade, and national satisfaction instruments show that satisfaction of pharmacology instruction amongst the medical graduates also increased with the highest satisfaction score achieved in 2019 (2.13) and 2020 (2.14) compared to the lowest achieved in 2012 (1.97). Similarly, more osteopathic medical graduates agreed that instruction of clinical pharmacology was appropriate in 2019 (85%) compared to the lowest in 2011 (75%) (data from 2020 not yet available). Conclusions Pre‐clerkship student satisfaction can be difficult to assess during a very stressful period, especially before the boards. Pharmacology teaching is more intense, and in our institution, it has yielded positive outcomes in board passing rates. In March of 2020, pharmacology faculty were faced with the challenge of rapidly transitioning into emergency remote teaching due to the Covid‐19 pandemic. This pandemic will likely continue to disrupt medical education well into the end of 2021, just before the USMLE Step‐1/COMLEX Level‐1 boards implement the pass/fail grading system. With all these changes and disruptions, pharmacology education is at a crossroads and it hinges on the future direction.