Integrating clinical pharmacology teaching with general practice

Aims To make Clinical Pharmacology teaching relevant and introduce students to therapeutic problems relevant to general practice.
Methods Six topics in the 'core curriculum' for Clinical Pharmacology were taught jointly by a Clinical Pharmacologist and General Practitioners (GPs). Formal teaching was reduced by issuing handouts containing copies of the overheads used. At least half the time was spent on interactive discussion of case histories.
Results Students rated the sessions more highly than other Clinical Pharmacology teaching and were not disadvantaged in examinations. All participants enjoyed and learnt from the experience and the GPs gained confidence in their ability to teach.
Conclusions This simple method is ideal for teaching Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics.