A Bridge Clinical Therapeutics Curriculum for Undergraduate Medical Students : a two-cohort pre–post educational study

Background The increasing diversity of therapeutic modalities has raised new demands for undergraduate medical education. Undergraduate medical students are expected to integrate pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic treatments in clinical decision-making, yet therapeutics teaching is frequently fragmented and concentrated in early pharmacology courses. We developed a structured Clinical Therapeutics course positioned between preclinical teaching and clerkships to present systematic approaches to treatment decision-making. Methods A two-cohort pre–post educational study was conducted among honours-track medical students. The course included modality-based teaching, case discussions, and student presentations requiring multimodal treatment planning. Outcomes were assessed using pre- and post-course questionnaires on interest and perceived learning outcomes, and a performance-based presentation assessment scored independently by three faculty raters using an analytic rubric. Questionnaire responses and presentation scores were summarized descriptively. Results Before the course, students reported limited familiarity with several therapeutic domains, particularly non-pharmacological treatments. After completion, most students rated the modules as helpful and reported improvements in interdisciplinary analysis (57.1%), treatment-planning ability (38.1%), and conceptual understanding (47.6%). Interest in clinical therapeutics was maintained or increased. Students demonstrated therapeutic reasoning in structured presentations, with a mean score of 92.0 ± 3.2. Conclusions A structured Clinical Therapeutics course delivered prior to clerkships may serve as a bridge curriculum that supports early development of therapeutic reasoning. Introducing systematic approaches to treatment decision-making before clinical immersion may help link preclinical knowledge with clinical application and improve preparedness for clinical learning. Further studies should examine long-term effects on clinical performance.