Pharmacy teaching for family practice residents

Because undergraduate training in pharmacology is insufficient preparation for prescribing drugs appropriately, comprehensive systematic education in clinical pharmacy is essential for family practice residents. A pharmacy curriculum could contribute to improved treatment of disease, decreased health care costs, decreased iatrogenicity and morbidity, lower risk of litigation, and better communication among physicians, pharmacists, and patients. The pharmacy curriculum which has been developed at the family practice residency program in Little Rock, Ark. focuses on problem-solving activities in the clinical setting, primarily utilizing problems from the residents' patient caseloads. A long-term plan of the department is to follow residents into practice in order to examine utilization of what they learned from the pharmacy curriculum.