Background: Despite increasing studies underscoring the effectiveness of new media teaching strategies in pharmacology education, the influence of different educational backgrounds is still unclear. We aimed to evaluate the efficacy of new media teaching under various educational backgrounds in pharmacology education using network meta-analysis. Methods: Literature databases were searched from their inception to February 28, 2024 for eligible trials. Educational backgrounds included 3 majors (pharmacy, medicine, and nursing) and 3 degrees (junior college, undergraduate, and graduate). Academic performance, comprehensive competency, and satisfaction were analyzed using Stata (version 17), Review Manager 5.3 software (RevMan 5.3), and R software (version 4.3.1). Results: A total of 46 studies involving 6447 students were included. The surface under the cumulative ranking curve (SUCRA) indicated that compared to other majors, new media teaching among nursing students was the most effective in improving theoretical scores (88.63%), experimental scores (93.28%), learning interest (88.27%), self-learning ability (91.17%), mastery of knowledge (96.81%), and the proportion of satisfaction (97.30%) in pharmacology education. As for degrees, new media teaching among junior college students had the best effect on enhancing theoretical scores (75.60%), experimental scores (86.23%), pass rates (88.33%), self-learning ability (90.36%), mastery of knowledge (97.73%), and the proportion of satisfaction (85.28%) in pharmacology learning. Conclusion: Overall, new media teaching among nursing students or junior college students appears to be more effective in pharmacology education. Thus pedagogues can better implement new media teaching strategies among these students and incorporate more web-based tools. © 2025 Elsevier B.V.
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