Clinical Pharmacology, Therapeutics and Toxicology High Priority Topics Across Core Clerkship Rotations
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Clinical pharmacology, therapeutics and toxicology (CPT) is a foundational competency for
safe, effective, and evidence-based medical practice. Adequate knowledge and skills in CPT
have been shown to be instrumental to patient safety and maintenance of professional
status. The Medical Council of Canada, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons and
the College of Family Physicians of Canada have set out objectives for learning CPT. Our
group previously matched these to locations in the McMaster UGME curriculum. During
clinical clerkship, medical students encounter pharmacologic decision-making across a wide
range of specialties, patient populations, and care settings.
This document was developed to provide a curated, high-yield framework of CPT learning
priorities aligned with core clerkship rotations. Rather than serving as an exhaustive
pharmacology reference, this resource identifies high-priority drug classes, agents, and
therapeutic concepts that medical students are most likely to encounter, prescribe, or need to
reason about during their undergraduate clinical training.
Across each discipline, emphasis is placed on developing a functional, clinically oriented
understanding of evidence-based indications, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics,
contraindications and precautions, common and serious adverse drug effects, and clinically
relevant drug-drug interactions.
The scope and depth of knowledge expected are intentionally calibrated for undergraduate
learners. Students are not expected to achieve specialist-level expertise, but rather to use
these listings as a structured guide for self-directed learning, bedside application, preparation
for clinical decision-making under supervision and eventually successful accomplishment of
the Prescribing Safely and licensing exams.
Citation
Gandhi B, Khakban I, Bracken K, Levinson A J, Levine M, Holbrook A M. Clinical Pharmacology, Therapeutics and Toxicology High Priority Topics Across Core Clerkship Rotations. September 2025.
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