The role of the clinical pharmacist in medical education

The clinical pharmacist is an integral member of the Docent team at the University of Missouri--Kansas City School of Medicine with duties in both teaching and patient care. These doctoral-level clinical pharmacists have sole responsibility for providing instruction in basic pharmacology and pharmacokinetics and for teaching pharmacotherapeutics to medical students and house officers at the Truman Medical Center. The pharmacology programs have been well received and are successful. Student evaluations have been positive, and acquisition of knowledge as measured by the computer-generated objective exam referred to as the Quarterly Profile Examination indicate progressive acquisition of basic pharmacologic information during periods of exposure to the clinical pharmacist. Analysis of part I of the National Boards of Medical Examiners Test shows that medical students with this instruction achieved higher scores in pharmacology than their mean performance on part I. House officers working with these clinical pharmacists also show progressive acquisition of basic pharmacologic knowledge as measured by the Quarterly Profile Exam. Preliminary evaluation of this nontraditional method of providing pharmacologic instruction indicates that the program is effective.