An assessment of Pakistani pharmacy and medical students’ knowledge of black box warnings

Abstract

Food and Drug Administration delivers the black box warnings (BBW) which should appear on the leaflets of medicines for patient awareness and the prescription of drugs indicating its highly fatal adverse effects to human body. The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge of Pakistani pharmacy and medical students about BBW. A questionnaire containing contents about BBW was given to the 1 st , 2 nd and 3 rd professional year pharmacy and medical students from different pharmacy and medical institutes. A 76% survey response rate was observed. It was observed that student's knowledge about BBW improves in association with the promotion in professional years of pharmacy and medical education. The results indicate that student's knowledge about black box increases with the study level. Training in black box warnings should be implemented in pharmacy and medical institutions influencing the meaningful ways to educate and train pharmacy and medical students, and help these students to get recent knowledge about black box warnings so that, in future, they may perform an ethical practice in their respective fields.Key words: side effects, Food and Drug Administration, training, questionnaires based survey Una evaluación del conocimiento de estudiantes de medicina y de farmacia en Pakistán sobre alertas de medicamentosResumen: La Agencia Reguladora de Alimentos y Medicamentos comunica alertas sobre medicamentos (AM), que debieran aparecer en los prospectos de medicinas, para el conocimiento de los pacientes y la prescripción de medicamentos, indicando sus efectos adversos fatales para el cuerpo humano. El objetivo de este estudio es averiguar el conocimiento de estudiantes de medicina y de farmacia sobre AM. Se entregó un cuestionario con contenidos sobre AM a estudiantes de farmacia y de medicina de primero a tercer año de diferentes institutos médicos y farmacéuticos. Se obtuvo un 76% de respuesta. Se observó que el conocimiento de los estudiantes sobre AM mejora asociado a la promoción en años profesionales de medicina y farmacia. Los resultados indican que el conocimiento de los estudiantes sobre alerta de medicamentos aumenta con el nivel de estudio. Debería implementarse la formación sobre alerta de medicamentos en farmacia y medicina y ayudar a los estudiantes a tener conocimiento actual sobre alerta de medicamentos de forma que, en el futuro, puedan realizar prácticas éticas en sus campos respectivos.Palabras clave: efectos secundarios, Agencia Reguladora de Alimentos y Medicamentos, formación, cuestionarios basados en encuestas Uma avaliação sobre o acesso de estudantes paquistaneses de medicina e farmácia ao conhecimento das advertências das caixas de tarja pretaResumo: A Food and Drug Administration disponibiliza as advertências das caixas de tarja preta (BBW) que devem aparecer em bulas de medicamentos para conscientização de pacientes e a prescrição de drogas, indicando seus efeitos adversos altamente fatais para o corpo humano. O propósito deste estudo foi o de de inteirar a cerca do conhecime...

Assessment of Knowledge Regarding Safety Profile, Use, and Boxed Warnings of Fluoroquinolones Among Healthcare Professionals in Saudi Arabia: A Potential Implication for Drug Regulatory Authorities

“…These studies have shown insufficient knowledge of physicians and pharmacists toward the BW (19,31). Other studies investigating the knowledge of BW among pharmacy and medical students reported a low level of knowledge which was directly proportionate to their study years (32,33). Since lack of information regarding BW may put patients at increased risks, the FDA along with other health authorities should adopt an appropriate mechanism of communication for such warnings and should also develop systematic feedback to ensure that all BW are communicated to HCPs across the world.…”