EurOP2E – the European Open Platform for Prescribing Education, a consensus study among clinical pharmacology and therapeutics teachers

Abstract

Purpose Sharing and developing digital educational resources and open educational resources has been proposed as a way to harmonize and improve clinical pharmacology and therapeutics (CPT) education in European medical schools. Previous research, however, has shown that there are barriers to the adoption and implementation of open educational resources. The aim of this study was to determine perceived opportunities and barriers to the use and creation of open educational resources among European CPT teachers and possible solutions for these barriers. Methods CPT teachers of British and EU medical schools completed an online survey. Opportunities and challenges were identified by thematic analyses and subsequently discussed in an international consensus meeting. Results Data from 99 CPT teachers from 95 medical schools were analysed. Thirty teachers (30.3%) shared or collaboratively produced digital educational resources. All teachers foresaw opportunities in the more active use of open educational resources, including improving the quality of their teaching. The challenges reported were language barriers, local differences, lack of time, technological issues, difficulties with quality management, and copyright restrictions. Practical solutions for these challenges were discussed and include a peer review system, clear indexing, and use of copyright licenses that permit adaptation of resources. Conclusion Key challenges to making greater use of CPT open educational resources are a limited applicability of such resources due to language and local differences and quality concerns. These challenges may be resolved by relatively simple measures, such as allowing adaptation and translation of resources and a peer review system.

Teaching resources for the European Open Platform for Prescribing Education (EurOP2E)—a nominal group technique study

“…Previous research shows that these resources can be effective in teaching the knowledge, skills and attitudes required for safe, effective and responsible prescribing 5 . A large variety of online problem-based resources is already being used for CPT training in universities throughout Europe, but while teachers reported that they are willing to share these materials, they currently rarely do so 6,7 . Actively sharing these materials will aid local teachers to improve their CPT curricula by making them more problem-based.…”

“…Actively sharing these materials will aid local teachers to improve their CPT curricula by making them more problem-based. Moreover, the platform will allow teachers to be inspired, share teaching experiences and collaborate on new international teaching resources 6 . In light of the recent COVID-19 pandemicwhich forced educators to abruptly adopt online teaching methods-the need for high-quality online teaching resources is high.…”

“…5 University of Zagreb School of Medicine and Clinical Hospital Centre Zagreb, Unit of Clinical Pharmacology, Zagreb, Croatia. 6 Universidad de La Laguna, school of Health Sciences, Tenerife, Spain and Hospital Universitario de Canarias. La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain.…”

Sustainable medicines use in clinical practice—It is time to help the teacher

“…Aimed at improving and harmonizing international CPT education, EurOP 2 E is an online environment for CPT teachers to collaborate and to share and create open educational resources. The framework for the platform was recently published, 6 and it is set to go live in the spring of 2022 (www.prescribingeducation.eu).…”

Sustainable medicines use in clinical practice -- it is time to help the teacher

“…Aimed at improving and harmonizing international CPT education, EurOP 2 E is an online environment for CPT teachers to collaborate and to share and create open educational resources. The framework for the platform was recently published [7], and it is set to go live in early 2022. Alike the call to action towards the NHS, we hereby make an appeal for teachers in CPT to join the EurOP 2 E network, and for those who are invested in sustainable prescribing to collaboratively create open educational resources about this (www.prescribingeducation.eu).…”