Pharmacology Course Regulations
2010/2011
The Pharmacology course consists of lectures and seminars.
A. Seminars and lectures
1. Participation in seminars is obligatory for all students.
2. Leaving the seminar before it finishes without any justification is treated as an “absence”. Students who are more than 10 minutes late are NOT allowed to write a quiz. Students who are more than 15 min late are NOT allowed to participate in the seminar unless a valid justification is provided.
3. There are NO additional (make-up) terms for seminars or lectures.
4. During the lectures and seminars students are NOT allowed to eat (esp. hot meals or drinks), sleep, or use mobile phones etc.
5. Students should leave their coats in the cloakroom. Headgear, except that required by religious belief, is not allowed.
6. Topics and dates of the seminars are provided before the beginning of each semester.
7. Students are expected to come prepared with knowledge presented in the previous week’s seminar as well as the present one (see # 2 in part C below).
8. Seminars are discussion sessions based on lectures, textbooks and selected multimedia materials during which students are required to participate.
9. There is a 15-min break in each seminar.
10. The seminars are thematically grouped by “blocks”.
11. The last session in each seminars’ block is a midterm exam which will be on topics covered during the seminars’ block and during the previous seminars’ block (see part C below).
B. Absences
1. Students who missed more than 10% seminars - 3 seminars (2 seminars for Dentistry students) with no justification* provided or were absent at more than 30% of seminars even if valid justification* was provided will not be eligible to sit for the Final exam and they will have to repeat the entire Pharmacology Course.
2. A student is required to justify absence during the first seminar immediately following the missed session to the lecturer, which will be noted in the list of attendance.
* valid justification is a valid physician’s leave with a stamp and a signature or a signed letter from the dean of the faculty
C. Quizzes and midterms
1. Each seminar (except the first one) will be preceded by a quiz scored from 0 to 5 points (5 Multiple Choice Questions - MCQs, including 3 questions on the topic covered on the previous seminar and 2 simple questions on the topic about to be covered). There is no possibility to write a quiz on any other day.
2. Each midterm exam consists of 30 MCQs (including 5 MCQs from the previous seminars’ block) – for 30 points; both "simple form - theoretical" and "clinical vignette" (USMLE type) questions will be used) and 5 open questions (for 10 points). There is a possibility to earn 40 points/midterm exam. Each student may take each midterm exam only once.
3. Absence on midterm exam: if unjustified student does not have a possibility to take midterm exam which means that he or she does not have a possibility to earn 40 points for missed exam; if justified student may take a midterm exam at the end of academic year (additional midterm exam will be organized).
4. Any doubts should be raised during the test.
5. MCQs from the midterm exam will be presented during the subsequent seminar. There is no possibility to see your own test.
D. Presentations
1. Each student is required to prepare 3 (4 Year Course) or 2 (6 Year Course, Dentistry) Power Point presentations. Presentation should last 10-15 minutes and finish with 3 MCQs to be answered by other students.
2. Each presentation must be sent to at least one day before the seminar and the Subject should be as follows “Presentation_Name_Date of presentation”. Each presentation should be saved in Power Point 97/2003 version. There will be no possibility to use USB before or during the seminar.
3. There is no possibility to send a presentation to the lecturer after the seminar during which presentation should be presented.
4. Each presentation is evaluated by the lecturer and will be graded corresponding to:
a. Correctness of information presented
b. Comprehensiveness – inclusion of latest findings in current research/study
c. Presentation & Delivery – visual & verbal clarity and flow
d. Creativeness in presentation layout, design and delivery
Notes (grade) given will be as follow:
5 – Excellent; 4 – Very good; 3 – Good; 2 – Poor; 1 – Very poor
There is NO possibility to discuss the presentation note (grade) with the lecturer.
5. In case you are absent during the seminar when you were supposed to have a presentation, please inform Pharmacology Department about it earlier. In case your absence is justified, you will be able to deliver your presentation at the subsequent seminar.
E. Manuals
Basic:
1. Harley, Champe: Lippincott’s Illustrated Reviews: Pharmacology 4th edition
Additional:
1. Ramachandran: Pharmacology Recall 2nd edition
2. Goodman and Gilman's: The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics 11th edition
F. Webpage
The address of Pharmacology Department webpage is csk.umed.lodz.pl/~farm It serves as the main source of important and urgent information during the pharmacology course. Information posted at this webpage is considered as delivered and binding upon all of the students.
G. Eligibility for exam
1. The maximum total number of points to be earned in quizzes, midterms and presentations amounts to:
Program
/ Total number of pointsQuizzes +Midterms +Presentations=Total / 55%
4 Year Course / 120+200+15 = 335 / 184
6 Year Course / 120+200+10 = 330 / 182
Dentistry / 65+80+10 = 155 / 86
2. A student is required to earn at least 55% of this total in order to be qualified to sit for the Final exam.
3. Students who receive 46-55% in order to be qualified to sit for the final exam may earn missing points in additional midterm exam which will be organized at the end of the year.
4. In order to earn points in the additional midterm exam, student must gain 55% of total points from this exam.
5. Students who:
a. received finally less than 55% of the maximum score
b. were absent from more than 10% of seminars with no justification* provided
c. were absent from more than 30% of seminars even if valid justification* was provided
ARE NOT eligible to take the Final exam and have to repeat the entire course of Pharmacology.
* valid justification is a valid physician’s leave with a stamp and a signature or a signed letter from the dean of the faculty
Exam
1. The exam will consist of 60 MCQs (max. 60 points) and 10 open questions/case studies (max. 20 points), based on materials covered and/or mentioned in Lippincott, lectures, seminars multimedia presentations of the lecturers and students, and seminar discussions during the year.
Final grade
1. The final score (max. 80 points) will be calculated as the amount of score from the theoretical exam and additional points for the pharmacology course.
2. Additional points for the pharmacology course are added only in case of receiving a 55% of max. score (44 points) during the exam so they cannot influence passing an exam.
3. Additional points for the course are added to the first term exam only.
Pharmacology course score / Points added to the final score90-100% / 8
80-89% / 6
70-79% / 4
65-69% / 2
55-64% / 0
4. A student will complete the Pharmacology course if he or she obtains at least a sufficient (3) grade.
5. Students who fail in the first term exam will take the make-up exam in the make-up session.
6. Students who are absent from the first term exam will take the make-up exam as if it was their first term exam, provided that they supply a valid justification. Otherwise they will be given a failing grade for the first term exam.
The final exam is graded according to the following scale: 5 – Excellent;
4,5 – Very good; 4 – Good; 3,5 – Satisfactory; 3 – Sufficient; 2 – Failed.
These regulations are read, accepted and signed by each student at the beginning of the seminars.