Nurses' perspectives on pharmacology: why, what and at which point of the curricula should education be delivered?

Abstract

the study aimed to capture the views of nursing students and qualified nurses about pharmacology education and at which point the subject should be taught. drug errors are common in clinical practice. However, the presence of pharmacology education in nursing curricula varies, with few higher education institutes focusing on the topic in pre-registration years. a cross-sectional survey was carried out with 46 pre-registration, 18 post-qualification and 15 post-qualification nurse prescribing course students. most agreed that pharmacology education was crucial for practice. Post-qualification participants ranked the topics of ethics and law as applied to pharmacology higher than pre-registration students. Qualified nurses ranked the topic of pharmacokinetics statistically higher than pre-registration students. Equal numbers of qualified participants favoured having pharmacology education as part of pre- and post-qualification programmes, either as a discrete module or incorporated in core modules. Pre-registration participants thought pharmacology education should be integrated throughout the programme. Most participants thought it should be taught face to face in the classroom. pharmacology education is valued by all nurses. Respondents mostly favoured a gradual integration of the subject in a programme of study, face to face.