Editorial

Pharmacology content in undergraduate nursing programs: Is there enough to support nurses in providing safe and effective care?

This quasi-experimental study examined the effects of a medication management program on nurses knowledge of medication management, three months after program completion. Fifty-seven nurses took a multiple-choice test both immediately after the program and three months later. Changes in test performance were assessed using McNemar's test and generalized estimating equations for binary outcomes. Test results were generally consistent from immediately post-program to three months later, though four items differed significantly. From immediately post-program to three months later, fewer nurses correctly answered the items: documenting no medication administration (98.2 vs 86.6, p = 0.04); documenting opioid administration (56.1 vs 33.3, p = 0.01); and observation after opioid administration (35.1 vs 19.3, p = 0.08. Significantly more nurses correctly answered the item concerning the pharmacology of medication administered with food (64.9 vs 77.2, p = 0.09). We recommend both continuous medication management training and focusing on the correspondence between theory-based knowledge and clinical practice routines.

Pharmacology is one of the cornerstones in health sciences curricula as well as research-oriented biomedical programs in higher education. New educational insights and scientific developments in teaching and learning, as well as exciting discoveries in pharmacology research, must prompt pharmacology teachers to regularly rethink and adjust their teaching. Reflecting on pharmacology education, this paper touches upon some educational issues that might inspire readers of this journal who are involved in pharmacology teaching.

Medication management is one of the fundamental roles of nurses. Deficiencies in registered nurses’ medication competence have been highlighted in previous research. It is important to ensure adequate medication competence to ensure safe practice upon graduation to nursing profession. Yet, little is known of the current medication education in undergraduate nursing programmes.

This study aims to describe the current medication education in Finland. More precisely, we explored the curriculum content, teaching and evaluation methods. A national survey in which data was collected with two questionnaires was conducted: one targeted programme managers responsible for curriculum (n = 22) and the other one teachers (n = 136) involved with medication education. The data was analyzed statistically.

The amount of medication education varied between the polytechnic schools involved. It appears that the content of teaching is quite comprehensive. However, we found under-emphasis on theoretical basis of medication care. This result is worrying since the understanding of the principles is essential for safe delivery of medication care. Also more emphasis on the use of self-treatment medications and therefore on patient education is warranted. The most often used teaching methods were lectures and skill laboratories. In all of the polytechnic schools, nurse students’ medication competence was regularly evaluated.

Based on previous research, there is scope for educational initiatives to improve nurse students’ medication competence. Therefore, it is important to develop medication education to ensure that medication education with relevant content and with contemporary and evidence-based methods is provided during nurses’ basic education.