title: Teaching separate versus integrated pharmacology content.
abstract: With recent media attention on medication errors in nursing practice (Berens, 2000), nursing curricula must include a method of teaching pharmacology that promotes student learning. The purpose of this nonexperimental, descriptive exploratory study was to retrospectively compare two delivery methods: integrated pharmacology content throughout a 4-year curriculum and a separate pharmacology course offered during the sophomore year. Data, from a convenience sample of 299 senior nursing students who wrote the National League for Nursing computerized adaptive pharmacology test, were analyzed using chi-square. Findings demonstrated that teaching a separate pharmacology course did not result in an increase in scores. Faculty are, therefore, encouraged to plan defined content enhancement throughout the curriculum when pharmacology is taught as a separate course.
authors.affiliation: Bellin College of Nursing, Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA.
authors.forename: Kathy
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zellner
authors.forename: Connie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Boerst
authors.forename: Kathy
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Semling
mesh_terms: D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003479:Curriculum; D004508:Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D007858:Learning; D010600:Pharmacology / Q000193:education*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013663:Teaching