Pharmacology Teaching Methods and Affective Factors in Their Success in Educating Undergraduate Medical Students: A Scoping Review

Pharmacology is one of the crucial subjects of medical courses because drugs are the basis of disease treatment. A basic drug description is needed to optimize benefits and reduce side effects. Therefore, proper education for medical students is necessary.

This scoping review aims to investigate the methods, ideas, and recommendations for educating undergraduate medical students in pharmacology.

To achieve the purpose of the study, related studies in English and Persian were reviewed within 2010 to 2022. A comprehensive systematic literature search was carried out in PubMed, Web of Science, SCOPUS, Google Scholar, and ProQuest databases to conduct this review. Two independent reviewers evaluated the retrieved publications and extracted the data using the Joanna Briggs Institute’s standardized tools. Primary study findings were read and reread to identify teaching methods used in the studies for undergraduate medical students. The extracted findings were categorized based on their similarity.

A total of 56 studies were included in this scoping review. More than 70% of articles have been performed in India. The results were presented according to the teaching methods used in educating: team-based learning, computer-assisted learning, the autobiography of medicines, role-play, integrated education, case-based learning, problem-based learning, student-led objective tutorials, e-learning module, museum, pre-lecture, concept mapping, crossword puzzles, game, flipped classroom, and mixed methods.

This review provided a new vision about the methods of pharmacology education that have been used worldwide. The information obtained can be used to revise traditional teaching methods of pharmacology in medical schools.