Perceptions of Pharmacology Teaching Approaches in Pre‐Doctoral Dental Education

In health professions education, pharmacology is traditionally taught in lecture-based didactic courses, which may not be integrated with clinical experiences [1]. Students struggle with a traditional didactic approach, as it often creates a disconnect between memorizing information and truly understanding its clinical relevance and application in patient care [2]. On course evaluations, many students report feeling overwhelmed by the volume of drug names and mechanisms they must memorize, often without a clear connection to real-world patient care. As a result, their confidence in applying pharmacology knowledge in clinical decision-making remains low. Evidence of this is seen daily in the clinics of Indiana University School of Dentistry (IUSD), where students struggle to translate the drug facts learned in their pharmacology courses into practical decision-making for the real patients sitting in their dental chairs. Our faculty members have noted that students frequently struggle to determine appropriate drug choices and fail to identify potential interactions, pertinent medication side effects, and contraindications in real-time patient scenarios. These challenges highlight the urgent need for a more clinically integrated pharmacology curriculum. In 2024, a new direction and lecture format were introduced for the pharmacology curriculum at IUSD. The new approach emphasized clinical relevance and incorporated case-based scenarios with direct dental applications into every lecture with the intent of making the lectures more meaningful and engaging for dental students. The IUSD DDS Class of 2025 completed two pharmacology courses in back-to-back semesters during their third year. The first course, D711-Pharmacotherapeutics I, utilized the traditional method, which was fact-centered and relied heavily on memorization. The second course, D712-Pharmacotherapeutics II, emphasized clinical relevance and incorporated case-based scenarios with direct dental applications. A questionnaire was developed to understand their perceptions of these approaches. A 10-question, 5-point Likert-scale questionnaire (Table 1) was distributed to 112 fourth-year pre-doctoral dental students who had completed both pharmacotherapeutics courses during their third year. The questionnaire was not IRB-approved and was originally intended to collect student feedback to guide positive curriculum changes within the D711- and D712-Pharmacotherapeutics courses. The questionnaire had a response rate of 82% (92 responses). All respondents (100%) preferred the newer teaching method over the traditional approach, with 86% selecting “strongly agree.” After experiencing both teaching approaches, 100% of respondents agreed that their ability to apply key pharmacology concepts improved. In comparison, 99% felt their retention of critical pharmacology concepts was enhanced with the newer, clinically relevant teaching modality. In addition, 99% of respondents reported that the case-based approach made pharmacology material more engaging and easier to understand. When asked if the clinically focused method boosted their confidence in patient care, 98% responded affirmatively. All respondents (100%) believed that future dental students would benefit more from the case-based teaching approach. This study suggests that a case-based, clinically relevant teaching approach improves students’ confidence in both understanding pharmacology concepts and applying them in clinical decision-making. These findings support continued implementation of this instructional method within the IUSD pharmacology curriculum. Future studies should include both subjective and objective comparisons between cohorts trained exclusively with this approach and those educated through traditional didactic methods to evaluate long-term retention, clinical performance, and overall educational effectiveness.