Methods for the development of curricula in pharmacology, the BPS experience

抄録

The British Pharmacological Society has developed a new core curriculum for undergraduate pharmacology degrees. To do this, we used a modification of the Delphi Process. We began with a pharmacology educator workshop to explore the core attributes expected of pharmacology graduates. We then developed these discussions into knowledge, skills and attitudes statements and sent them, in the form of a questionnaire, to our Expert Group, which included pharmacology professionals from across academia and industry. In an iterative process, we asked the Expert Group to rank each statement according to how much they agreed it was a core graduate attribute. Where there was disagreement, we modified statements according to feedback. After 3 rounds of questionnaires, we had a draft core curriculum which was then finalised through a discussion workshop with the education community. In this workshop, we also discussed practical aspects of curriculum implementation and the potential for the Society to develop resources to support it.

In the future, the Society will be considering how, in addition to pharmacology programmes, the curriculum can be used to inform degrees in the biomedical sciences, as well as clinical and post-graduate pharmacology training provision. We have also used the Delphi method to develop a curriculum for the use of research animals.