Search

In the new medical curriculum at Leiden University Medical Centre, the Netherlands, two aspects of the training in pharmacology and pharmacotherapy--the acquisition of knowledge and its application--have been integrated. On the basis of the approved subject matter and goals, four computer programmes were developed: the Teaching Resource Centre (TRC) Pharmacology database, the interactive TRC teaching programme, the Individual Therapy: Evaluation and Plan (ITEP), and the relational curriculum database. Together, these programmes provide the necessary knowledge in pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics, pharmacotherapy and the mechanisms of drug action, as well as possibilities for monitoring the educational process. The figures are created with the aid of a symbolic language, assuring a uniform presentation of all the information throughout the curriculum. Attention is also paid to the integration of these aspects with other subjects in the medical curriculum. Implementation of the teaching system in pharmacology was started at the beginning of 2001. Currently, the TRC database contains almost all the subject matter that is planned to be included. The next step in the process will be the assessment of both the knowledge and its application. TRC Pharmacology is a new method of integrating basic knowledge of pharmacology and pharmacotherapy in a medical school curriculum.