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Research projects

The Impact of Virtual Patients in Pre-Clinical Pharmacology Learning in Diverse Learners (PharmaViP)

Project information

Project status

In progress

Contact

External

This project aims to investigate the potential benefits of integrating virtual patients (VPs) in pharmacology education within discipline-based and problem-based learning (PBL) medical curricula. Virtual patients (VPs) are incorporated in the PBL-based medical programme at Örebro University, either as in-class tutorials or as an independent learning resource. It is also part of the Systematic Pharmacology course at University of Nicosia in a discipline-based medical curriculum, comparing it to traditional lecture-based learning. A quasi-experimental design is used to assess the following outcomes in the two comparator groups: pharmacological knowledge, student perceptions and satisfaction, cognitive load, student motivation and engagement. The project aims to identify which pedagogical approach is more effective to support learning in pharmacology, and to improve pharmacology education, potentially contributing to enhancing patient safety in the long term.

The research project is funded under the Excellence Hubs (EXCELLENCE/0524) programme within the “RESTART 2016-2020” funding framework for Research, Technological Development and Innovation (RTDI) from the Cyprus Research and Innovation Foundation. The project consortium consists of the University of Nicosia Research Foundation (UNRF), as the project host organisation, and Örebro University, Sweden, as the foreign research partner organisation.  The project started in May 2025 and will be completed in April, 2027.

Consortium

Project Host Organization: 
University of Nicosia Research Foundation (UNRF):

Örebro University:

Contact:
Dr Soulla Nicolaou, Associate Professor in Pharmacology, University of Nicosia Medical School. 
Project Coordinator:

nicolaou.p@unic.ac.cy