Higher medical training in pharmaceutical medicine: Delphi exercise on clinical development advanced module and course delivery and assessment

Abstract

A Delphi exercise was undertaken to develop the curriculum in pharmaceutical medicine necessary for each advanced training module that will lead to the award of a Certificate of Completion of Specialist Medical Training. The Delphi exercise used a panel for each module to identify the range of competencies and define the knowledge and skills required to fulfil the professional roles and responsibilities of a pharmaceutical physician.For the clinical development module, 52% (16/31) of Delphi correspondents identified responded in the first phase and 63% (10/16) went on to complete the second phase. Statements were weighted using mean scores achieved to allow the Faculty to assess relative merits for each independent statement. The highest weighted competency statements for the clinical development module related to therapy area review. The lowest weighted competency statements concerned conduct of the study, and interpretation of results and clinical studies.The first phase of the Delphi exercise for each module contained a course delivery and assessment section which was completed by 127 (67%) of the 190 Delphi correspondents identified. The results show that respondents consider the course should comprise a variety of training methods with clear objectives and a structured approach to guided self-learning. Assessment should use a mix of question types with continuous assessment a significant part of that. The importance of good communication for students was stressed with contact with tutors and contemporaries and personalised feedback from assessments.

What knowledge and skills are essential for specialists in Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics? Results of a Delphi study

“…Its applications in health services research have been well reviewed by Cantrill et al [8]. In relation to education and training in pharmacology and therapeutics, it has been used to determine the content of an undergraduate core curriculum [9], a postgraduate course in therapeutics for general practitioners [10], and a curriculum for specialist training in pharmaceutical medicine [11].…”

Evolution of the Development of Core Competencies in Pharmaceutical Medicine and Their Potential Use in Education and Training

“…The Faculty produced draft outlines for the six practice-based specialty modules and in 1998 commissioned the University of Keele to undertake a Delphi exercise to determine their content (Millson et al, 2000).…”

“…There was a total of 364 statements of knowledge and skills at the start of the Delphi process, and these were gathered to form the six curricular domains with a level of achievement given for each constituent competency. The outcomes of each Delphi exercise on the six modules were analyzed at the University of Keele and published (Commentary, 1999;Millson et al, 1999;Phelan et al, 1999;Boardman et al, 2000).…”