INTRODUCTIONThere is a growing awareness that learners' views of their educational experiences are valuable in assessing the effectiveness of course content and teaching methods. Student feedback is a critical component of the teacherlearner cycle.1 In many medical colleges, instruction of students in pharmacology remains formal and may be inadequate. Pharmacology is one of the most important subjects that form the backbone of rational therapeutics. The primary objective of teaching-learning pharmacology is to enable medical students to take rational therapeutic decisions in clinical practice.2 Pharmacology is often perceived as dry and volatile by most second-year MBBS students. Due to content overload, students also find it difficult to remember and recall pharmacological terms, concepts and drug names in the subject. Many attempts have been made by various colleges all over India and abroad to make the teaching-learning of pharmacology more interesting and relevant.3 It is generally agreed that reviewing the teaching program at regular intervals and modifications in the content and methodologies of imparting basic knowledge about drugs and drug therapies is a must. 4 Questionnaires offer an objective means of collecting information about the student's attitude, belief, behaviour and knowledge. However, questionnaires should be validated, reliable and standardized. Understanding current perceptions held by future medical practitioners regarding pharmacology for its role in application of basic concepts to clinical practice may be helpful for introducing appropriate changes into the curricula where and when necessary. ABSTRACT Background:In order to ensure a successful and sustainable curriculum, regular feedback from students about their views of teaching and learning experience is a must. The purpose of this study was to assess whether course content and teaching-learning aids are actually supporting the curriculum goals and what reforms can be implemented for the betterment of teaching pharmacology for medical students. Methods: After Institutional Review Board approval (IRB), a total of 120 second-year medical students of the Kamineni Academy of Medical Sciences and Research Centre (KAMSRC), L.B Nagar, Hyderabad, Telangana were interviewed with a structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were used for analysis of data and the results were expressed as percentage (%). Results: Pharmacology was considered a useful subject by 51% of second-year-MBBS students. They found cardiovascular system (34%) followed by chemotherapy (21%) as the most interesting topics. 25% students liked didactic lectures followed by MCQs (19%). A whopping 50% suggested the lectures should be clinically-oriented. 35% students studied from a combination of lecture notes and text books. According to them, the pharmacology teacher should be knowledgeable and student-friendly. About 77% students think that pharmacology teachers have those qualities. Conclusions: This study revealed that the medical students wish to learn pharmacology...

Background: To study drug utilization of anticancer drugs in the oncology inpatient department (IPD) of Kamineni Hospitals, L.B. Nagar, Hyderabad, India.Methods: One hundred prescription records were screened and analysed as per the study parameters from the oncology IPD of Kamineni Hospitals, Hyderabad. Commonly used anticancer drugs were recorded; furthermore, different types of carcinomas were noted.Results: Age group of patients was in between 04 and 80 years, 62 were females and 38 were male patients. The most common type of carcinoma was carcinoma of the breast (28%). Cisplatin was the most commonly used anticancer drug (29%). Adjuvant drugs were used in 98% of the patients.Conclusions: Incidence of cancer is more in females than males. Adjuvant and cytoprotective drugs used may have had a bearing on the relatively lower incidence of adverse effects.

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Background: Drugs are one of the most commonly used interventions in medical therapeutics. Spontaneous reporting of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) is the backbone of pharmacovigilance (PV) program. Under-reporting of ADRs by prescribers was possibly due to lack of knowledge, attitude and practices regarding PV. This study was done to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of medical students (grouped to sixth and eighth semester) and medical doctors about PV in a tertiary care hospital.Methods: It was a questionnaire based cross-sectional study administered to 246 medical students and doctors. Study tool was a validated questionnaire containing 15 questions to evaluate KAP of PV among medical students and doctors. A descriptive analysis of data was done where necessary, statistical significance for associations between the group and their responses to questionnaire was provided using Pearson Chi square test and Fisher exact test.Results: Sixty-eight percent of the participants (90% doctors; 76% eighth-semester and 46% sixth-semester medical students) know the correct definition of PV. Sixty-one percent of the participants (67% sixth-semester, 61% doctors and 53% eighth-semester) think that reporting is a professional obligation for them. Only 15% of the participants have ever been taught or trained on how to report an ADR.Conclusions: Medical doctors and students lack adequate knowledge and practice of reporting ADRs, but they seem to have a positive attitude towards the PV program. Our study findings strongly suggest that there is a great need to create awareness amongst them to promote reporting of ADRs.