Objectives of pharmacological education.

Pharmacological education is presented as a continuous undertaking of preclinical students, clerks, and physicians and surgeons in training and practice (1). Carrying out this activity requires five operations: (a) selecting criteria of effective and safe drug use in patients; (b) defining attitudes, knowledge, and skills of clinicians who practice effective pharmacotherapy; (c) developing these attitudes, knowledge, and skills in prescribers: (d) evaluating the proficiency of prescribers at certification and in actual practice; and (e) identifying causes of prescribing deficiencies in order to amend inappropriate methods of instruction.