Bridging pre-clinical and clinical learning: Integrating pharmacokinetics and therapeutic drug monitoring for enhanced clinical reasoning
Pharmacokinetics (PK), the study of how the body processes medications, is essential for safe and effective drug use in clinical setting. Medical students learn basic PK principles in the pre-clinical stage (Years 1&2). Later in clinical study, they encounter Therapeutic Drug Monitoring (TDM) which is vital for dugs with narrow safety margins, but without clear links to these core PK concepts. Therefore, students struggle to translate/map pre-clinical principles into practical clinical decision-making for individual patients.
This constructivism-based project aims to bridge this gap by developing an integrated learning module. We will develop a multi-faceted educational intervention, incorporating: 1) Conceptual learning modules for foundational PK understanding; 2) Problem-Based Learning scenarios focusing on PK challenges in pre-clinical drug development; 3) Case-Based Reasoning exercises to apply PK/TDM principles in clinical contexts; and 4) an AI-assisted interactive virtual TDM platform. These modules will be mapped to preclinical and clinical courses from Year 2 to Year 3. Highlighting the longitudinal integration of PK principles and application, this project helps students develop deep, transformative understanding and medical application kills as oppose to rote memorization for exam. We aim to build their confidence in making patient-centered decisions for safe and effective use of drugs.
