OBJECTIVES: Pharmacist' role as patient counsellor/educator in the ambulatory settings is essential for the rational use of drugs (RUD). The need for the qualified pharmacy services enforce improvement of teaching methods in pharmacotherapy. Pharmacy students often face problems in implementing theorical pharmacotherapy knowledge to practice. Thus, novel methods  (e.g. Groningen model) are developed for pharmacotherapy teaching. METHODS:  A short course of  “RUD Teaching” was conducted. Fifteen pharmacologists from 8 different pharmacy schools (of the total 13) have attended the 4 day training course. On the first day, attendants were subjected to a pretest which was based on the evaluation of their dispensing attitudes. For this purpose a simulated patient presented a prescription ordering a single drug for the treatment of his ailment. Attendants had a 3 day training similar to the Groningen model and finally they were subjected to a posttest. On the last day, trained attendants were expected to put their experience into practice with 12 pharmacy students. RESULTS: The results have shown that the average dispensing score of the 15 trainees (pharmacologists who received the training) which was 32/100 in the pretest, was increased to 72/100 at the end of the three days training. The questionnaire showed that all of the the pharmacology lecturers agreed that the novel teaching method would improve the learning efficiency and communication skills of the student and change their dispensing attitude. On the otherhand 41.6% have stated that they believed the new teaching method would produce extra workload to their department. However, all of them have claimed that they would practice the new method in their departments. Also, the students have also stated that the course improved their dispensing skills. CONCLUSIONS: Although the course was conducted with a small group of trainees, results show that Groningen model can be adapted to RUD teaching in the Turkish pharmacy schools.