Case-Based Questions for Teaching Emergency Medicine Pharmacotherapy

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Pharmacology
• Emergency Medicine

Background:

• Pharmacotherapy is integral to Emergency Medicine (EM) practice.
• Dedicated instruction time for pharmacotherapy is often lacking in EM residency programs.
• A structured curriculum can address this educational gap.

Purpose of the Study:

• To implement and evaluate a dedicated pharmacotherapy curriculum for EM residents.
• To enhance residents' clinical application of EM pharmacotherapy, including drug selection and management of interactions and adverse effects.
• To improve residents' preparedness for board examinations covering pharmacotherapy.

Main Methods:

• A monthly, case-based question set curriculum was developed and implemented over an 18-month cycle.
• Educational strategies included case vignettes, multiple-choice assessments, and guided discussions.
• Pre- and post-intervention surveys using a 7-point Likert scale assessed self-assessed knowledge and satisfaction.

Main Results:

• Residents reported a statistically significant improvement in confidence regarding EM pharmacotherapy knowledge (pretest: 3.7, posttest: 2.6, p = .00008).
• Self-assessed improvement in knowledge and satisfaction with the curriculum also showed statistically significant gains.
• Residents perceived improvements in clinical practice ability and readiness for independent practice.

Conclusions:

• The implemented pharmacotherapy curriculum successfully improved residents' self-assessed knowledge and confidence.
• The curriculum is effective, easy to implement, and generalizable to other EM residency programs.
• This structured approach enhances learning and provides objective data for competency assessment.