The course Pharmacology is a compulsory course in the third year of the Integrated Undergraduate and Graduate University Study of Medicine in English. It consists of 30 hours of lectures, 85 hours of seminars, and 15 hours of practicals - overall 130 hours (10 ECTS).
Course objective
The main aim of the Pharmacology course is to provide the acquisition of necessary knowledge in the area of basic and special pharmacology, as well as in the area of pharmacotoxicology and rational pharmacotherapy. The objective of the course is for the students to acquire knowledge on the mechanisms of drug actions, their therapeutic and adverse effects, routes of drug administration as well as regarding the indications and contraindications for the use of the most important groups of drugs. The students should also at the end of the course understand the pharmacological characteristics of "prototype" drugs for each pharmacotherapeutic class. Additionally, each student must obtain the skill of prescribing different drug formulations and the ability to use relevant sources of pharmacology literature as a critical approach concerning the quality of each drug.
Course content:
Basic pharmacology: basic pharmacological terms, pharmacology disciplines, drug nomenclature, mechanisms of drug action, pharmacokinetics, factors affecting drug effects
Special pharmacology: pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, indications, contraindications and adverse effects of the most important pharmacological drug groups and particular drugs
Toxicology: drug toxicology
General principles of clinical pharmacology: drug discovery and development, preclinical and clinical trials
Pharmacography: legal regulations and rules of prescribing different drug formulations
Course learning outcomes
I. Cognitive domain – knowledge
After having passed the Pharmacology course, students should be able to:
1. describe and explain the general principles of pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics,
2. list and describe different factors that modify drug effects,
3. define and explain the types and mechanisms of drug interactions,
4. classify drugs in different groups/subgroups,
5. define, describe and explain the routes of administration, the mechanisms of action at the molecular and cellular level, pharmacological effects on different organ systems, the main therapeutic indications and contraindications, the most important adverse effects and toxicity of particular drugs that are illustrative examples of pharmacotherapeutic groups and subgroups they belong to,
6. analyze pharmacological effects, pharmacokinetic profile, adverse effects, indications, and contraindications between the drugs which belong to different subgroups within the same drug groups and then compare them,
7. describe the symptoms and therapy of clinically the most important drug poisonings,
8. list clinically important drug interactions, and
9. describe and explain the process of new drug discovery and development.
II. Psychomotor domain - skills
After having passed the Pharmacology course, students should acquire the skills of prescribing different drug formulations
1. Katzung BG, Edit., Basic & Clinical Pharmacology, 14 th Edition, McGraw-Hill Education, New York, USA, 2018.
2. Bradamante V, Klarica M, Šalković-Petrišić M, Edits. Pharmacology Manual, 1st Edition in English, Medicinska naklada, Zagreb, 2010.
1. Ritter J., Flower R, Henderson G, Rang H. Rang & Dale's Pharmacology, 8th Edition, Elsevier, Churchill Livingstone, London, UK, 2015.
Students are obligated to regularly attend and actively participate in classes. Students are allowed to be absent at a maximum of 30 hours of seminars + practicals. It is compulsory to follow and act in accordance with notifications and rules regarding attendance, absence, midterm exams I and II, corrections of midterm exams, final exam, etc., which will be presented at the first lecture. Additional information and rules will be announced on a regular basis and on time on the SharePoint portal of the Department and on Merlin platform
During the classes of Pharmacology, a student can achieve a maximum of 70% (70 points) of their final grade, while the remaining 30% (30 points) of the grade is obtained at the final exam. Points distribution is as follows:
Midterm exam I=35 points
Midterm exam II=35 points
Total (classes)=70 points
Pre-exam colloquium in pharmacography and final exam=30 points
Total (course)=100 points
A. Midterm exams
Midterm exam I includes the topics covered at L1-L10 and S1-S7. It consists of a written test (Test I). Test I will be held on January 10, 2023.
Midterm exam II includes the topics covered at S8-S17 and SP1. It consists of a written test (Test II) Test II will be held on May 23 or May 31, 2023.
The exact time and the venues for the tests will be announced forehand.
Tests are evaluated according to the scheme:
Test I
Number of correct answers Number of points
49,50 35
47,48 34
45,46 33
43,44 32
41,42 31
39,40 30
37,38 29
35,36 28
34 27
33 26
32 25
31 24
30 23
29 22
28 21
27 20
26 19
25 18
0-24 0
Test II
Number of correct answers Number of points
49,50 35
47,48 34
45,46 33
43,44 32
41,42 31
39,40 30
37,38 29
36 28
35 27
34 26
33 25
32 24
31 23
30 22
29 21
28 20
27 19
26 18
25 17
0-24 0
Corrections of the midterm exams
Students can access the corrections of the midterm exams if they did not pass them or are not satisfied with the obtained points. If a student retakes the midterm exam because they are not satisfied with the obtained grade points, only the grade points obtained at the retaken midterm exam(s) will be considered as valid. Students will have the opportunity to correct midterm exams I and/or II only once.
Correction of the Tests I and II will be organized on June 27, 2023, and June 29, 2023, respectively. Exact times and venues will be announced in a timely manner.
Students are obligated to apply for the correction/s of the midterm exams. The applications will be received until June 21, 2023, by 12 noon. If students apply for the correction/s of the midterm exam I and/or II and subsequently decide that they will not be able to access it, they must personally cancel it at the latest until one workday before the term of the midterm exam/s I and/or II until 12 noon. If a student does not personally cancel the application for the correction/s of the midterm exams, their final score will be 0 points.
Exceptionally, corrections of the midterm exams will also be organized for the students who are absent from the midterm exams due to a justified reason. In that case, they must submitt a written explanation and appropriate documentation. The materials have to be addressed to Assoc Prof Kristina Pilipović, recorded in the Registry Office of the Faculty and submitted to the Office of the Department, until June 16, 2023, at 3 p.m.
B. Pre-exam Colloquium in Pharmacography
The pre-exam colloquium in Pharmacography includes material covered during P1-2 and consists of a written and an oral part. On the written test, the task will be to correctly prescribe four prescriptions. The oral part of the colloquium can be accessed only by a student who correctly prescribes at least two prescriptions. For each correctly prescribed recipe, the student will receive 0.25 points (maximum 1 point). Each part of the colloquium (both written and oral) must be positively graded for the colloquium to be considered passed. Students unsatisfied with the result achieved at the pre-exam colloquium in Pharmacography can apply for the correction only once, in one of the scheduled terms. In that case, the number of points earned on the correction will be counted as the final result!
Pre-exam colloquia in Pharmacography will be held on: June 16, 2023, June 30, 2023, July 14, 2023, September 5, 2023 and September 19, 2023.The time and places of these qolloquia will be subsequently announced.
C. Final exam
Only students who have achieved at least 35 points during the course can take the final exam in Pharmacology. Students with less than 35 credits earned during the course must enroll in the course Pharmacology again in the next academic year. The final exam consists of two parts: a final test and an oral exam. Each part of the final exam must be positively graded for the exam to be considered passed!
Final test is evaluated according to the scheme:
Number of correct answers Number of points
66-70 9
61-65 8
55-60 7
49-54 6
42-48 5
35-41 4
0-34 0
Students who do not answer at least 50% of the test questions correctly cannot access the oral part of the final exam.
Oral part of the final exam
The maximum number of points that can be obtained at the oral exam is 20 (range 10-20). For the grade 2 (sufficient), the student obtains 10 points; for the grade 3 (good), the student obtains 13 points; for the grade 4 (very good), the student obtains 16; for the grade 5 (excellent), the student obtains 20 points.
The final grade
The final grade is formed based on the results obtained during the course and the grade obtained at the final exam, according to the following scheme:
Percent/credits for acquired knowledge, Numerical grading system ECTS system
skills and competences (course+final grade)
90-100% 5 (excellent) A
75-89,9% 4 (very good) B
60-74,9% 3 (good) C
50-59,9% 2 (sufficient) D
0-49,9% 1 (insufficient) F
Academic honesty
It is expected that all students and teachers follow the code of academic honesty in accordance with the Code of Ethics for the students of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Rijeka. Please read the policy regarding academic honesty at: http://medical-studies-in-english.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/CODEOF-ETHICS.pdf
Contact information
For all questions and concerns, students are encouraged to contact us by e-mail or personally.