Goals
and Objectives of the Course
To
create a familiarity with the "language" of pharmacology
-- the names, classes, properties, adverse effects, and uses
of major therapeutic agents in order:
1.
To assure competence to function effectively during the third year
clerkships and beyond. For example, students should be able
to read a patients chart which includes the patient's drug-taking
history, recognize the agents in the chart, identify the classes to
which they belong, identify why the agent was prescribed or ordered
and identify how the natural history of the disorder is altered by
virtue of that therapeutic intervention.
2.
To allow for future self-education. Each year the FDA approves hundreds
of new drugs and preparations for clinical use. The information
turnover in Pharmacology is extraordinarily rapid and students must
be trained and required to initiate the habit of independent learning
of drugs that will assure the currency of their information base once
our pharmacology course is behind them.
3.
To foster critical thinking about drugs for optimal therapeutic intervention.
