MBChB501 Clinical Pharmacology
Year 5 and Year 6 Clinical Pharmacology
Module Coordinator |
Module Administrator |
Please
be sure to read the Asynchronous Learning, Synchronous Learning and Prescribing Safety
Assessment sections (see below).
Introduction to Year 5 Clinical
Pharmacology
Welcome to
the Clinical Pharmacology module of the MBChB 501 course.
This module will build on
your existing anatomy, physiology, genetics, and biochemistry knowledge. This
module is designed to teach you the principles of clinical pharmacology and
therapeutics that will underlie other aspects of your medical education and
future medical practice. Where we can, we will use specific clinical
examples and patient scenarios to help you understand these basic principles.
You should expect your learning from this module to integrate with your
learning from other modules.
I hope that this module is
informative, challenging and interesting. Good luck with the year.
Module Overview
The lectures provide a structured
introduction to the principles of clinical pharmacology and application to
therapeutics.
The tutorials encourage students
to reflect on the module content and apply principles of dose
individualization.
The Clinical Pharmacology module
consists of formal lectures, synchronous and asynchronous learning activities.
In view of possible last minute change of venues and times, please refer to
the MBChB Portal (http://medprog.fmhs.auckland.ac.nz/timetable/)
for the latest timetable information.
Lectures will be given in lecture
theatre 505-011 unless you are informed otherwise.
The notes and lecture slides
provided cover key areas of interest as your lecturers see them, and guide you
about the scope of what we expect you to learn. However, this is a
university-level course, therefore, for some topics you will need to do your
own reading outside of lectures and module resources. If unsure about anything
please do not hesitate to ask your lecturers for help.
If you are given reading material
before any session or in this module manual, you are expected to have read and
considered this prior to attending.
Medicines You Should Know About
Practicing
doctors may prescribe from a large list of medicines in New Zealand. Typically,
every doctor will be familiar with several hundred medicines. Clinicians at
FMHS have compiled a list of medicines that they think all medical students
should be aware of. A shorter list has been identified that should be familiar
to year 6 medical students who may be asked to initiate a prescription. These
lists are accessible on the MBChB Clinical Scenarios Medicines website.
The CP module will introduce you
to medicines from these lists. As you continue in your medical training you
will learn about a wider range of medicines. You are expected to be familiar with the mechanism of
action, primary indications and major adverse effects of all medicines that are
referred to in the CP module. This information will not necessarily be discussed
by your teachers or appear in the course materials. You
should learn to use online resources about medicines such as the New
Zealand Formulary (https://nzf.org.nz/) to complement and integrate the materials
used in the CP module (see MBChB Clinical Scenarios Medicines website
for further links).
Clinical Pharmacology Formal Learning
In Year 5 students will be introduced to
a greater degree of complexity in the practice of prescribing, building upon
the knowledge and practical skills acquired in Phase 1 and Year 4.
Year 5 Clinical Pharmacology Formal Learning lectures reinforce the need to approach patients as individuals when prescribing, focusing on prescribing to three special populations: elderly, children, and pregnant or lactating women. There will also be a lecture about Prescribing Skills Assessment (PSA), which is a mandatory exam you will be sitting at the end of Year 5 - see below for further information. We will go through some example questions.
Clinical Pharmacology Synchronous Learning
Therapeutics is taught in the
Synchronous Learning in Medicine teaching in Year 5. (For further information
refer to Staff and Student Guide to Synchronous Learning in Year 5).
After completing Year 6, you
should be able to formulate a basic management plan and identify medicines (and
non‐pharmacological approaches) that might be indicated for each
therapeutic problem.
Clinical Pharmacology Asynchronous Learning
National Prescribing Centre Learning Modules
Please read the following
instructions about the National Prescribing Centre modules. You are expected to
use these modules to help improve your prescribing knowledge and skills. There
are recommended modules for both Year 4 and Year 5 students. If you are a Year
5 student and have not taken the Year 4 modules, then you are strongly
encouraged to do so.
Australian National Prescribing Service Modules
Medical Deans of Australia and New Zealand Core Competencies
The core
competencies document is provided to help you understand the competencies
expected of medical students in the later stages of their training.
MDANZ 2020 May Core Competencies
Prescribing Skills Assessment 2021
- Years 5 and 6
The PSA is a
summative two-hour online test which students are required to undertake in Year
5. From 2019, any 2019 Year 5 cohort students who fail the PSA will be required
to re-sit this test in Year 6. There will be three opportunities for students
to demonstrate their prescribing competence (two attempts at the online PSA
test and an oral examination).
Prescribing Skills Assessment dates for 2021
Wednesday 28th
July 2021, commencing at 8:30 am (resit test for year 6 students who failed in
November 2020)
Activation of PSA Account
All 5th year students who are required to take the PSA test in 2021 have been registered on the PSA site. You must activate your account using your UNIVERSITY EMAIL ADDRESS on the PSA website BEFORE the PSA test.
What is the Prescribing Skills
Assessment?
The Prescribing
Skills Assessment (PSA) is a
two-hour online test designed to assess prescribing competence.
The PSA
test is used in all UK medical schools, all NZ medical schools and most
Australian medical schools. The test you will sit was developed for use in New
Zealand and Australia. All medicines and doses that might have been used in the
test were checked by a large review group of clinicians and clinical
pharmacists from New Zealand and Australia to see that they are consistent with
both the New Zealand Formulary and the Australian Medicines Handbook.
Because of the Australasian nature of the test some medicines may not appear in University of Auckland lists of medicines (e.g. https://medprog.fmhs.auckland.ac.nz/scenarios/index.php/medicine/index) but are described in the New Zealand Formulary.
The review group participated in
an extensive standard setting procedure to establish the pass mark for the
test. The principle of the standard setting was based on the expected
percentage of borderline students who would be able to get the correct answer.
Each question was evaluated separately in order to set the standard. The use of
a common standard for all PSA tests in New Zealand and Australia is important
because of the ability of doctors to work in both countries.
Students who have taken this assessment in the past have commented very positively on its usefulness. You will get the most out of the assessment if you prepare yourself during the year by reading the following section on preparing for the test and making sure you understand the practice questions.
In order to take the test, you will need to be registered with the PSA. You will need to activate your PSA account. Fifth year students will receive an email reminder in the second semester asking you to do this when the PSA site is ready for registration to start. Sixth year students will be contacted in the first semester.
Once you have activated your
account you will be able to access more detailed information about the PSA and
be able to take the Practice Assessments. If you have difficulty accessing
the "Preparing for the PSA event" video, a transcript of the
information contained in the video will be available in the near future.
Please do not try to activate your
account before you have been notified by email. To activate your account go to
the PSA website and use your
University of Auckland email address. It is suggested that you use your
University password to register on the PSA web site so that you only
have one password to remember. After you have registered on the PSA site
and if you forget your PSA password you can request a password reset
to be sent to your UoA email address.
IMPORTANT: You must use the
Australasian PSA website link.
Do not try to use www.prescribingsafetyassessment.ac.uk
which is for UK students.
Why do the Prescribing Skills Assessment?
http://careers.bmj.com/careers/advice/view-article.html?id=2018
PSA Test Format
The PSA is an on-line exam lasting two hours. The exam is divided into 8 stations and each station contains 6-8 questions. The competencies tested include writing new prescriptions, reviewing existing prescriptions, calculating drug doses, identifying and avoiding both adverse drug reactions and medication errors and amending prescribing to suit individual patient circumstances.
It is the only on-line resource
you are allowed to access during the test. You are allowed to use links that
exist in the NZF but attempts to look at other resources during the test is
considered cheating.
Preparing for the Test
Knowing your email address and PSA
password is especially important on the day you take the test. You are
responsible for knowing these in order to login. You will not be given extra
time to find these details if you are unable to provide the email address and
password that was used to activate your account.
Once you
have activated your account you will have access to practice exams.
Your
clinical teachers are those primarily responsible for teaching you prescribing
skills (as they are for other clinical skills).
You can
also prepare for the test by:
1. reviewing your Formal Learning in clinical pharmacology
2.
participating in the Asynchronous Learning (the NPC
online modules)
3.
engaging in prescribing during your clinical attachments.
You can also try the following
websites:
Prepare
for the PSA (unofficial site designed by a UK medical school)
Question Browser (payment for access)
Pastest (payment for access)