Identifying the core concepts of pharmacology education: A global initiative

Paul J. White; Clare Guilding; Tom Angelo; John P. Kelly; Laurel Gorman; Steven J. Tucker; Ashleigh Fun; Jae Han; Guanliang Chen; Yassmin Samak; Anna Marie Babey; Fabiana A. Caetano; Sudhir Chandra Sarangi; Jennifer Koenig; Haiping Hao; Joseph Goldfarb; Kelly Karpa; Luciene Vieira; Carolina Restini; Margaret Cunningham; Patrik Aronsson; Roisin Kelly-Laubscher; Mark Hernandez; Patangi K. Rangachari; Janet Mifsud; Fatima Mraiche; Ramzi Sabra; Octavio Piñeros; Xuechu Zhen; Helen Kwanashie; Betty Exintaris; Nilushi Karunaratne; Kuniaki Ishii; Yannee Liu

doi:10.1111/bph.16000

Identifying the core concepts of pharmacology education: A global initiative

Paul J. White^*, Clare Guilding, Tom Angelo, John P. Kelly, Laurel Gorman, Steven J. Tucker, Ashleigh Fun, Jae Han, Guanliang Chen, Yassmin Samak, Anna Marie Babey, Fabiana A. Caetano, Sudhir Chandra Sarangi, Jennifer Koenig, Haiping Hao, Joseph Goldfarb, Kelly Karpa, Luciene Vieira, Carolina Restini, Margaret CunninghamPatrik Aronsson, Roisin Kelly-Laubscher, Mark Hernandez, Patangi K. Rangachari, Janet Mifsud, Fatima Mraiche, Ramzi Sabra, Octavio Piñeros, Xuechu Zhen, Helen Kwanashie, Betty Exintaris, Nilushi Karunaratne, Kuniaki Ishii, Yannee Liu

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Medicine, Medical Sciences & Nutrition

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)

1 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Background and Purpose: In recent decades, a focus on the most critical and fundamental concepts has proven highly advantageous to students and educators in many science disciplines. Pharmacology, unlike microbiology, biochemistry, or physiology, lacks a consensus list of such core concepts. Experimental Approach: We sought to develop a research-based, globally relevant list of core concepts that all students completing a foundational pharmacology course should master. This two-part project consisted of exploratory and refinement phases. The exploratory phase involved empirical data mining of the introductory sections of five key textbooks, in parallel with an online survey of over 200 pharmacology educators from 17 countries across six continents. The refinement phase involved three Delphi rounds involving 24 experts from 15 countries across six continents. Key Results: The exploratory phase resulted in a consolidated list of 74 candidate core concepts. In the refinement phase, the expert group produced a consensus list of 25 core concepts of pharmacology. Conclusion and Implications: This list will allow pharmacology educators everywhere to focus their efforts on the conceptual knowledge perceived to matter most by experts within the discipline. Next steps for this project include defining and unpacking each core concept and developing resources to help pharmacology educators globally teach and assess these concepts within their educational contexts.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1197-1209
Number of pages	13
Journal	British Journal of Pharmacology
Volume	180
Issue number	9
Early online date	3 Apr 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/bph.16000
Publication status	Published - May 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors acknowledge the contribution of the survey participants and expert group members who contributed their expertise to the study. Open access publishing facilitated by Monash University, as part of the Wiley - Monash University agreement via the Council of Australian University Librarians.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors. British Journal of Pharmacology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Pharmacological Society.

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. Some data may not be made available because of privacy or ethical restrictions.

Keywords

core concepts
Delphi method
discipline-based educational research
global education
pharmacology education
postgraduate
text mining
undergraduate

Access to Document

10.1111/bph.16000Licence: CC BY

White_etal_BJP_Identifying_the_core_VOR
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.© 2022 The Authors. British Journal of Pharmacology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Pharmacological Society
Final published version, 513 KBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

White, P. J., Guilding, C., Angelo, T., Kelly, J. P., Gorman, L., Tucker, S. J., Fun, A., Han, J., Chen, G., Samak, Y., Babey, A. M., Caetano, F. A., Sarangi, S. C., Koenig, J., Hao, H., Goldfarb, J., Karpa, K., Vieira, L., Restini, C., ... Liu, Y. (2023). Identifying the core concepts of pharmacology education: A global initiative. British Journal of Pharmacology, 180(9), 1197-1209. https://doi.org/10.1111/bph.16000

White, PJ, Guilding, C, Angelo, T, Kelly, JP, Gorman, L, Tucker, SJ, Fun, A, Han, J, Chen, G, Samak, Y, Babey, AM, Caetano, FA, Sarangi, SC, Koenig, J, Hao, H, Goldfarb, J, Karpa, K, Vieira, L, Restini, C, Cunningham, M, Aronsson, P, Kelly-Laubscher, R, Hernandez, M, Rangachari, PK, Mifsud, J, Mraiche, F, Sabra, R, Piñeros, O, Zhen, X, Kwanashie, H, Exintaris, B, Karunaratne, N, Ishii, K & Liu, Y 2023, 'Identifying the core concepts of pharmacology education: A global initiative', British Journal of Pharmacology, vol. 180, no. 9, pp. 1197-1209. https://doi.org/10.1111/bph.16000

@article{a2cb2866570b4d16b004a868b956d8d5,

title = "Identifying the core concepts of pharmacology education: A global initiative",

abstract = "Background and Purpose: In recent decades, a focus on the most critical and fundamental concepts has proven highly advantageous to students and educators in many science disciplines. Pharmacology, unlike microbiology, biochemistry, or physiology, lacks a consensus list of such core concepts. Experimental Approach: We sought to develop a research-based, globally relevant list of core concepts that all students completing a foundational pharmacology course should master. This two-part project consisted of exploratory and refinement phases. The exploratory phase involved empirical data mining of the introductory sections of five key textbooks, in parallel with an online survey of over 200 pharmacology educators from 17 countries across six continents. The refinement phase involved three Delphi rounds involving 24 experts from 15 countries across six continents. Key Results: The exploratory phase resulted in a consolidated list of 74 candidate core concepts. In the refinement phase, the expert group produced a consensus list of 25 core concepts of pharmacology. Conclusion and Implications: This list will allow pharmacology educators everywhere to focus their efforts on the conceptual knowledge perceived to matter most by experts within the discipline. Next steps for this project include defining and unpacking each core concept and developing resources to help pharmacology educators globally teach and assess these concepts within their educational contexts.",

keywords = "core concepts, Delphi method, discipline-based educational research, global education, pharmacology education, postgraduate, text mining, undergraduate",

author = "White, {Paul J.} and Clare Guilding and Tom Angelo and Kelly, {John P.} and Laurel Gorman and Tucker, {Steven J.} and Ashleigh Fun and Jae Han and Guanliang Chen and Yassmin Samak and Babey, {Anna Marie} and Caetano, {Fabiana A.} and Sarangi, {Sudhir Chandra} and Jennifer Koenig and Haiping Hao and Joseph Goldfarb and Kelly Karpa and Luciene Vieira and Carolina Restini and Margaret Cunningham and Patrik Aronsson and Roisin Kelly-Laubscher and Mark Hernandez and Rangachari, {Patangi K.} and Janet Mifsud and Fatima Mraiche and Ramzi Sabra and Octavio Pi{\~n}eros and Xuechu Zhen and Helen Kwanashie and Betty Exintaris and Nilushi Karunaratne and Kuniaki Ishii and Yannee Liu",

note = "Funding Information: The authors acknowledge the contribution of the survey participants and expert group members who contributed their expertise to the study. Open access publishing facilitated by Monash University, as part of the Wiley - Monash University agreement via the Council of Australian University Librarians. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 The Authors. British Journal of Pharmacology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Pharmacological Society.",

year = "2023",

month = may,

doi = "10.1111/bph.16000",

language = "English",

volume = "180",

pages = "1197--1209",

journal = "British Journal of Pharmacology",

issn = "0007-1188",

publisher = "Wiley-Blackwell ",

number = "9",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Identifying the core concepts of pharmacology education

T2 - A global initiative

AU - White, Paul J.

AU - Guilding, Clare

AU - Angelo, Tom

AU - Kelly, John P.

AU - Gorman, Laurel

AU - Tucker, Steven J.

AU - Fun, Ashleigh

AU - Han, Jae

AU - Chen, Guanliang

AU - Samak, Yassmin

AU - Babey, Anna Marie

AU - Caetano, Fabiana A.

AU - Sarangi, Sudhir Chandra

AU - Koenig, Jennifer

AU - Hao, Haiping

AU - Goldfarb, Joseph

AU - Karpa, Kelly

AU - Vieira, Luciene

AU - Restini, Carolina

AU - Cunningham, Margaret

AU - Aronsson, Patrik

AU - Kelly-Laubscher, Roisin

AU - Hernandez, Mark

AU - Rangachari, Patangi K.

AU - Mifsud, Janet

AU - Mraiche, Fatima

AU - Sabra, Ramzi

AU - Piñeros, Octavio

AU - Zhen, Xuechu

AU - Kwanashie, Helen

AU - Exintaris, Betty

AU - Karunaratne, Nilushi

AU - Ishii, Kuniaki

AU - Liu, Yannee

N1 - Funding Information: The authors acknowledge the contribution of the survey participants and expert group members who contributed their expertise to the study. Open access publishing facilitated by Monash University, as part of the Wiley - Monash University agreement via the Council of Australian University Librarians. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Authors. British Journal of Pharmacology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Pharmacological Society.

PY - 2023/5

Y1 - 2023/5

N2 - Background and Purpose: In recent decades, a focus on the most critical and fundamental concepts has proven highly advantageous to students and educators in many science disciplines. Pharmacology, unlike microbiology, biochemistry, or physiology, lacks a consensus list of such core concepts. Experimental Approach: We sought to develop a research-based, globally relevant list of core concepts that all students completing a foundational pharmacology course should master. This two-part project consisted of exploratory and refinement phases. The exploratory phase involved empirical data mining of the introductory sections of five key textbooks, in parallel with an online survey of over 200 pharmacology educators from 17 countries across six continents. The refinement phase involved three Delphi rounds involving 24 experts from 15 countries across six continents. Key Results: The exploratory phase resulted in a consolidated list of 74 candidate core concepts. In the refinement phase, the expert group produced a consensus list of 25 core concepts of pharmacology. Conclusion and Implications: This list will allow pharmacology educators everywhere to focus their efforts on the conceptual knowledge perceived to matter most by experts within the discipline. Next steps for this project include defining and unpacking each core concept and developing resources to help pharmacology educators globally teach and assess these concepts within their educational contexts.

AB - Background and Purpose: In recent decades, a focus on the most critical and fundamental concepts has proven highly advantageous to students and educators in many science disciplines. Pharmacology, unlike microbiology, biochemistry, or physiology, lacks a consensus list of such core concepts. Experimental Approach: We sought to develop a research-based, globally relevant list of core concepts that all students completing a foundational pharmacology course should master. This two-part project consisted of exploratory and refinement phases. The exploratory phase involved empirical data mining of the introductory sections of five key textbooks, in parallel with an online survey of over 200 pharmacology educators from 17 countries across six continents. The refinement phase involved three Delphi rounds involving 24 experts from 15 countries across six continents. Key Results: The exploratory phase resulted in a consolidated list of 74 candidate core concepts. In the refinement phase, the expert group produced a consensus list of 25 core concepts of pharmacology. Conclusion and Implications: This list will allow pharmacology educators everywhere to focus their efforts on the conceptual knowledge perceived to matter most by experts within the discipline. Next steps for this project include defining and unpacking each core concept and developing resources to help pharmacology educators globally teach and assess these concepts within their educational contexts.

KW - core concepts

KW - Delphi method

KW - discipline-based educational research

KW - global education

KW - pharmacology education

KW - postgraduate

KW - text mining

KW - undergraduate

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85145500108&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1111/bph.16000

DO - 10.1111/bph.16000

M3 - Article

C2 - 36470846

AN - SCOPUS:85145500108

SN - 0007-1188

VL - 180

SP - 1197

EP - 1209

JO - British Journal of Pharmacology

JF - British Journal of Pharmacology

IS - 9

ER -

Identifying the core concepts of pharmacology education: A global initiative

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Data Availability Statement

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this