The Role of the Clinical Pharmacist in Medical Education

Abstract

The clinical pharmacist is an integral member of the Docent team at the University of Missouri--Kansas City School of Medicine with duties in both teaching and patient care. These doctoral-level clinical pharmacists have sole responsibility for providing instruction in basic pharmacology and pharmacokinetics and for teaching pharmacotherapeutics to medical students and house officers at the Truman Medical Center. The pharmacology programs have been well received and are successful. Student evaluations have been positive, and acquisition of knowledge as measured by the computer-generated objective exam referred to as the Quarterly Profile Examination indicate progressive acquisition of basic pharmacologic information during periods of exposure to the clinical pharmacist. Analysis of part I of the National Boards of Medical Examiners Test shows that medical students with this instruction achieved higher scores in pharmacology than their mean performance on part I. House officers working with these clinical pharmacists also show progressive acquisition of basic pharmacologic knowledge as measured by the Quarterly Profile Exam. Preliminary evaluation of this nontraditional method of providing pharmacologic instruction indicates that the program is effective.

A pilot study of a pharmacist-led prescribing program for final-year medical students

“…Our findings supports those of others that have found a positive impact of pharmacist-led teaching of junior doctors and medical students [12, 24]. Despite the potential for clinical pharmacist involvement in undergraduate medical education being discussed for nearly four decades [25], their role still appears limited. One reason for this could be a lack of formal recognition that teaching of other healthcare professionals, particularly students, is part of the role of a clinical pharmacist.…”

Importance of Pharmacists in Medical Education

“…The idea to include clinical pharmacists in medical education is not new [2]. However, based upon the recent publication by Lerchenfeldt and Hall, the idea is still primarily theoretical and not a reality.…”

Care of Transsexual Persons

“…Pharmacists are established providers of medication education for medical students and residents as part of interdisciplinary teams in academic settings. 3 Their involvement in patient care activities includes education about medications, diseases, and adherence; disease-state management; and drug-utilization review -all of which result in improved health care outcomes. 4 Standards for medical residency programs include a require-ment for drug-therapy education, and program faculty often include pharmacists.…”