Curriculum to enhance pharmacotherapeutic knowledge in family medicine: interprofessional coteaching and web-based...

Prescribing is an essential skill for physicians. Despite the fact that prescribing habits are still developing in residency, formal pharmacotherapy curricula are not commonplace in postgraduate programs.

To teach first-year and second-year family medicine residents a systematic prescribing process using a medication prescribing framework, which could be replicated and distributed.

A hybrid model of Web-based (www.rationalprescribing.com) and in-class seminar learning was used. Web-based modules, consisting of foundational pharmacotherapeutic content, were each followed by an in-class session, which involved applying content to case studies. A physician and a pharmacist were coteachers and they used simulated cases to enhance application of pharmacotherapeutic content and modeled interprofessional collaboration.

This systematic approach to prescribing was well received by family medicine residents. It might be important to introduce the process in the undergraduate curriculum-when learners are building their therapeutic foundational knowledge. Incorporating formal pharmacotherapeutic curriculum into residency teaching is challenging and requires further study to identify potential effects on prescribing habits.