Teaching pharmacology on the internet: a university experience

Internet and Intranet are omnipresent in the University world. We developed an easy-access website (www.med.univ-rennesl.fr/etud/pharmaco) devoted to teaching pharmacology and report here our experience after 4 years of use. Our objective was to determine the value of this new teaching tool in the m edical cursus. The site is entirely free and presents approximately 50 topics and diaporam as discussing various themes: the cell, the receptor, general pharmacology, clinical research, population research, drug classes, etc. Harbored by the Medical Informatics Laboratory of the University of Rennes Medical School. this site serves as a reference for medical students and others. More than 100 visits are recorded daily, approximately half from visitors outside Fr ance. The advantages of this new teaching tool, which operates within the framewo rk of a Virtual Medical University project are evident for students and pro fessors alike, Its impact on the quality of drug therapy by future doctors remains to be determined.