title: A survey of predoctoral dental basic pharmacology education.
abstract: A survey of fifty-one of the fifty-three dental schools in the continental United States provided information about pharmacology curriculum content and time allocation. Most dental schools offer a traditional didactic course in basic pharmacology, with about 50 percent of the medical school-based (MSB) and 75 percent of the dental school-based (DSB) programs providing additional pharmacology material in other basic and clinical courses. The four combined medical-dental (M-D) student courses have more hours of instruction, clinical conferences and reviews, and number of instructors than either the dental school- or medical school-based courses. DSB and MSB pharmacology courses were similar in most regards, with a relatively low compliance with the current curriculum guidelines. The DSB and MSB courses provided more time for neuropharmacology and less time for agents related to various organ systems than the M-D courses. There is considerable potential to improve pharmacology instruction by expanding the inclusion of pharmacology in other courses, increasing the number of clinical conferences and discussions, and offering problem-based-learning sessions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Structure and Function, Oregon Health Science University, School of Dentistry, Portland 97201, USA.
authors.forename: L T
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: Robertson
mesh_terms: D003479:Curriculum; D004497:Education, Dental / Q000458:organization & administration; D004501:Education, Medical; D005179:Faculty, Dental; D005180:Faculty, Medical; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D006801:Humans; D009480:Neuropharmacology / Q000193:education; D010600:Pharmacology / Q000193:education* / Q000458:organization & administration; D018794:Problem-Based Learning; D012575:Schools, Dental; D012577:Schools, Medical; D013335:Students, Dental; D013337:Students, Medical; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States