Course objectives
By the end of the M4 Advanced Medical Therapeutics course, students
will:
- have reviewed basic principles of pharmacology that are applicable
to a breadth of medical practice (IO-3)
- be confident prescribing commonly used medications (IO,3,8,9)
- become familiar with commonly used drugs that they may not prescribe
in their clinical specialty, but may be common in their patient population
(i.e. cardiac agents and seizure medications) (IO,3,8,9)
- interpret and apply medical research that forms the basis for evidence-based
prescribing (IO-4)
Learning Approach
This course will focus on learning processes and decision-making, rather
than on rote memorization of facts. Emphasis will be at a more advanced
level, that of clinical reasoning and problem solving. A central idea of
this course is to learn from problem-based, open-ended experiences,
much like learning experiences in the clinic or on the ward. Following
that analogy, the proper amount of reading and study will be determined
by students’ perception of his/her current knowledge and
understanding knowledge gaps.
The course consists of three separate elements:
1. Weekly online learning modules
Modules consist of individual topic areas, presented as clinical cases
and followed by a series of questions about clinical management. Responses
to the questions will link to on-line materials that are germane to the
problem (e.g., PowerPoint presentations, videos, or document files).
Students are encouraged to think broadly about the clinical problems.
If, for example, the case presents a problem involving drug dosing, make
sure that you understand the principles of dosing for the particular
class of drugs and for the particular disease state being treated. Students
are also charged with assessing their knowledge base for a particular
topic.
2. Online seminars
The online seminars reflect on controversies in the literature, interpretation
of the literature, or physician relations with the pharmaceutical industry.
3. Independent Projects
Students prepare either 1) a brief powerpoint presentation that answers
a question of interest concerning the use of a therapeutic agent by review
of key literature, or 2) a case-based learning module on a topic of interest
to themselves with links to appropriate supportive literature. |