Evaluating student understanding of pharmacodynamics core concepts
Kelly-Laubscher R. Koenig J. Cunningham M. Aljofan M. Babey A.-M. Hawes M. Hinton T. Karpa K. Karunaratne N. Nicolazzo J. Liang W. Mraiche F. Restini C. Santiago M. Volbrecht K. Guilding C. White P.J.
5 March 2025Elsevier B.V.
European Journal of Pharmacology
2025#990
Pharmacodynamics is an essential subdiscipline of pharmacology that underpins safe and effective prescribing and therapeutic decision-making, as well as drug discovery and development. The exponential increase in the number of therapeutic drugs has prompted members of the pharmacology educator community to question existing pharmacology curricula focused on individual drugs and move toward a curriculum focused on conceptual understanding. A first step towards conceptual understanding is to establish what students currently know about pharmacodynamic core concepts. A total of 218 students from 10 universities were invited to complete a questionnaire that assessed their understanding of drug efficacy, drug-target interaction, drug tolerance, and structure-activity relationship. Pairs of pharmacology experts independently assessed each students response and flagged any misconceptions that arose. The experts then compared their evaluations, achieved a consensus decision, and grouped the misconceptions into themes. Less than 25% of students provided core concept meanings that fully aligned with those of the expert group. By contrast, more than 75% of students could apply the core concept to a novel scenario at least in part. Overall, 480 misconceptions were identified and grouped into 55 misconception themes. The concept of drug efficacy was the core concept with which students struggled most. It is unclear why students were better able to apply their knowledge than to define the core concepts, although this might reflect a focus on active learning in pharmacology courses globally. The deficits in defining and understanding pharmacodynamic core concepts, and the misconceptions revealed in student responses, can be used by educators to guide their efforts.
Core concepts , Health sciences education , Pharmacodynamics , Pharmacology , Science education
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Dept. Pharmacology & Therapeutics, School of Medicine, College of Medicine and Health, University College Cork, Ireland
Division of Medical Sciences and Graduate Entry Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom
Strathclyde Institute for Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences (SIPBS), University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, United Kingdom
Department of Biomedical Science, School of Medicine Nazarbayev University, Astana, Kazakhstan
School of Science & Technology, University of New England, Australia
Department of Comparative Biomedical Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Surrey, United Kingdom
Sydney Pharmacy School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
East Tennessee State University, Quillen College of Medicine, United States
Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, Australia
Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacy, LKS Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, College of Health Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Michigan State University, College of Osteopathic Medicine, MI, United States
Macquarie Medical School, Macquarie University, Sydney, 2109, NSW, Australia
School of Medicine, Faculty of Medical Science, Newcastle University, United Kingdom
Dept. Pharmacology & Therapeutics
Division of Medical Sciences and Graduate Entry Medicine
Strathclyde Institute for Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences (SIPBS)
Department of Biomedical Science
School of Science & Technology
Department of Comparative Biomedical Sciences
Sydney Pharmacy School
East Tennessee State University
Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacy
Department of Pharmacology
Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology
Macquarie Medical School
School of Medicine
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