Pharmacognosy, a Classical Theme Tuned to a Contemporary Melody

Abstract

Objective. To describe the development of a pharmacognosy course that uses a combination of didactic teaching, team-based projects, and practicum laboratory practice. Methods. A course titled "Pharmacognosy" was developed by applying a three-tier teaching methodology: in the classroom, the basic concepts and principles were introduced in a didactic manner; outside the classroom, students worked in teams and each team created an independent literature-based research project that was submitted as a poster presentation; in the pharmacy practicum laboratory, students worked individually and conducted a quality control experiment comprised of a quantitative analysis of an herbal product. Results. During the seven-year course implementation, 1091 first-year PharmD students participated in the course. Their performance was consistently satisfactory. On average, 30% of students in each class received a grade of "A" and teams received a "B" and above on their projects. Conclusion. The pharmacognosy course, equipped with concurrent teaching methods, implemented with a group research project, and reinforced by practicum laboratory experience, has reached the original goal of introducing a classical topic in an updated and contemporary fashion to meet the requirement of integrated pharmacy education and practice.

Pharmacognosy and Its Role in the System of Profile Disciplines in Pharmacy

“…27,28 The full breadth of this area of pharmacognosy is shown by a number of publications. 29,30 As part of their academic studies, pharmacist-pharmacologists must be professionally prepared in their studies to use modern methods of their time, which enable success in the isolation of macromolecular substances with unusual effect 31 ; the major part of pharmacognosy still involves small-molecule substances, which are much easier to handle.…”