Abstract: Objective  To compare the teaching effects of problem-based learning (PBL) and case-based learning (CBL) in clinical pharmacotherapy course (CPT) for postgraduates majoring in clinical pharmacy. Methods  Total 14 postgraduates from China Pharmaceutical University were randomly assigned to a CBL group or a PBL group to learn the clinical pharmacotherapy of hypertension and diabetes. Comprehensive case-analysis multiple-choice questions (MCQs) and SOAP (S:Subjective, O:Objective, A:Assesssment, P:Plan) record were used to evaluate the students' learning outcome. The questionnaire and curriculum feedback form were adopted to obtain students' self-evaluation of teaching methods. Results  Compared to CBL group, the total MCQs scores of PBL group were significantly higher (P＜0.05), MCQs scores of two themes of "medication regimens" and "patient education" showed an increasing trend (P＞0.05). Students in PBL group generally believed that the course content was more applicable, flexible and humanistic and believed PBL teaching was conducive to cultivating clinical pharmacotherapy thinking, improving the ability of problem solving (P＜0.05). Students in PBL group obtained higher self-evaluation in the aspects of "collecting information to assess patients", "resource management", " review and reflection" and "time management strategies"(P＜0.05).Conclusion   PBL teaching method can broaden the width and depth of knowledge and generalize case-based reasoning ability, which is consistent with the characteristics of clinical pharmacotherapy course and is beneficial to the improvement of basic skills of pharmaceutical care.

Key words: clinical pharmacotherapy, problem-based learning, case-based learning, clinical pharmacy, teaching method