Teaching pharmacotherapeutics to family medicine residents: a curriculum.

PROBLEM BEING ADDRESSED Medication prescribing is becoming increasingly complex, and the need for formal curricula in pharmacotherapeutics and medication prescribing in accredited family medicine residency programs has been advocated. OBJECTIVE OF PROGRAM The main objective of the pharmacotherapeutic curriculum is to support the development of family medicine residents' pharmacotherapeutic knowledge and medication prescribing skills required for rational prescribing. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION The curriculum has 4 main components: 1) a medication prescribing framework based on the main tasks and key decisions related to the prescribing of medications, 2) 12 pharmacotherapeutic topics identified in the needs assessment, 3) a 5-step process for session design used by the curriculum development team, and 4) a description of specific roles of facilitators involved in delivering the curriculum. Formative evaluation of the curriculum using resident focus groups has helped to inform the further development of its components. CONCLUSION A formalized curriculum was created to build knowledge of pharmacotherapeutics and effective medication prescribing skills, which are necessary for the current complex environment of patient care and medication management.