USE OF E-LEARNING AND B-LEARNING APPROACHES IN THE PHARMACOLOGY COURSES AS A TEACHING STRATEGY WITHIN THE MEDICAL CURRICULUM

Background:
At present, the appearance of new technologies, information and communication technology (ICT) play a significant change in medical education. But overall, the teachers and institutions maintain a traditional curricular position. Courses like pharmacology, which require greater investment of time to develop theory and practice need to opt for incorporation strategies in order to optimize the process of learning .

This type of student-centered education, will be develop independent learning that can generate some degree of transformation in a traditional curriculum in itself.

Objective:
The purpose of this study is to determine the new educational approach of e-learning and b-learning that have incorporated to new teaching and learning strategies in medical curricula applied to pharmacology course.

Materials and methods:
This study investigated the longitudinal trends of implementation of e-learning and b-learning strategies in the pharmacology course in medical curriculum. Literature database of PubMed were searched by the terms "e learning medical", "medical curriculum" and "Pharmacology". The study eligibility criteria included articles published in English. One hundred and two (102) articles were identified and included for these analysis in the period from 1993 to 2013.

Results:
61 publications with e-learning and 41 b-learning were identified apllied to pharmacology interventions. We identified that traditional didactic education is limited in providing opportunity for student-case patient pharmacology learning. Designed situations in pharmacology can enhance learners' knowledge and associated abilities through a variety of activities.
Active learning is a student centered rather than a teacher-centred process; it makes learners responsible for their own learning by self-directed, peer-assisted seeking of new information. Pharmacology e-Learning is a relatively new approach to medical education rapidly growing in the last ten years. A learning management system (LMS) makes it possible to monitor the access and progress of learners through the content, as well as assessing their process teaching learning aplied to pharmacology courses. Pharmacology teachers and their institutions might also see if e-Learning and b-learning are a costeffective option, although this depends on the numbers of learners and a plan for sustainability of the material.

Educational studies and projects and e-learning or b-learning application in pharmacology courses are growing with the highest potential for future research, and is important to know that e-learning differ between leading countries and early adopter countries, and government policies play an important role in this aspect .

Conclusion:
The didactic strategy type e-learning and b-learning, has been incorporated into the program plans of health sciences in higher education, and specifically to pharmacology.