Education in clinical pharmacology at the Rijeka School of Medicine, Croatia

Abstract

Objective: Irrational drug prescribing is a global problem that exists both in developed and developing countries. Education is the key to improved effectiveness and safety in drug therapy. Development of clinical pharmacology (CP) as an independent discipline at the Rijeka School of Medicine has been slow and unsatisfactory. It was taken only as a part of some postgraduate courses. In the 1995/1996 academic year clinical pharmacology was offered for the first time to sixth year medical students as a non-mandatory subject. The purpose of this study was to emphasize the importance of education in clinical pharmacology at the Rijeka School of Medicine.

Methods: This survey was an uncontrolled study based on responses to questionnaires and a test consisting of written patient problems given to sixth year medical students and to general practitioners who were following a course in clinical pharmacology.

Results: The results of the questionnaire showed that both undergraduate and postgraduate students consider that they are not being adequately trained to prescribe drugs rationally and that they believe that clinical pharmacology should become a mandatory subject in the undergraduate medical curriculum. The results of the written patient problem test support this. Both groups of students demonstrated greater skills in solving the diagnostic part than the therapeutic part of the test. A great improvement in the students' ability to solve the therapeutic part was observed after they had completed the CP course.

Conclusion: The results of this survey underline the necessity of education in clinical pharmacology.