Cross sectional observational study to assess the knowledge of drugs utilized in emergency medical conditions amongst medical interns and residents in tertiary care teaching hospital

Abstract

Background: Medical interns and residents are future medical professionals and as first-line responders, they may confront any type of emergency. Knowledge of pharmacotherapeutics (PTs) is the backbone of emergency care. Therefore, this study is designed to assess PTs’ knowledge and identify the lacunae in handling various medical emergencies among medical interns and residents.Methods: This was a cross-sectional, observational, questionnaire-based study. A self-structured questionnaire containing 30 close-ended questions, assessing the knowledge of drugs utilized in various medical emergency conditions was prepared and circulated in the form of a Google form. A credit score of “1” was given for each correct response. Grading of knowledge was done as “poor” (≤50%), “average” (>50-70%), and “adequate” (>70%-100%) The student’s unpaired t-test was used to analyse the data.Results: A total of 282 candidates responded, with 148 (52.48 %) interns and 134 (47.52%) residents. Participants had the least knowledge of PTs for anaphylactic shock. Participants’ knowledge of PTs was found to be adequate regarding the central nervous system and electrolyte disorders while average regarding toxicology, immunization, and endocrine system. Results suggested that residents (mean score: 21.42±5.06) were significantly (p=0.0165) more knowledgeable than interns (mean score: 19.96±5.08). Among respondents, 17.6% of interns and 13.4% of residents had poor performance while 45.9% of interns and 53.7% of residents had adequate performance.Conclusions: The current study provides valuable information regarding the state of PTs’ knowledge in medical emergencies among interns and residents, which can be used to improve undergraduate as well as postgraduate training.