Pharmacology education: a theoretical framework of applied pharmacology and therapeutics

United Kingdom Government initiatives such as The NHS Plan (DoH 2000) identified the need for nurses to undertake multi-skilled professional roles. In the United Kingdom, the transition to a larger graduate nurse workforce continues, as Universities offer nurse pre-registration courses at diploma and degree levels. Concomitant with the change in educational standard is the need to teach student nurses the theoretical principles of medication management and to develop skills in clinical reasoning skills. Both elements are limited in current educational pre-registration nurse programmes, in order to develop the future, multi-skilled workforce such courses should incorporate the theory and skills of health assessment, physical examination, applied pharmacology and clinical reasoning. This paper aims to examine how knowledge of applied pharmacology and therapeutics can be integrated into an undergraduate pre-registration nursing programme. Discussion focuses on how this generic framework can provide educators with an outline of the theoretical constructs, their application, the teaching strategies involved and instruction on how to prepare nurses to clinically reason with regard to medication management issues. This framework can be adapted to accommodate nurses studying for all parts of the register.