Students’ attitudes on personal drug selection exercise in writing prescription

Abstract

INTRODUCTIONPharmacology, the study of drugs, is mainly taught to 3 rd , 4 th and 5 th semester medical students in India. The traditional pharmacology teaching mainly takes place through didactic lectures, in which passive transfer and memorizing of information of drug class and individual compounds occurs. Whereas practical curriculum mainly includes pharmacy practical, animal experimentations, prescription writing and problem based learning (PBL) which has been criticized. So, there is a need to evaluate practical curriculum. [1][2][3] Rational use of drugs (RUD) entails that patients should receive medications appropriate to their specific clinical needs, proper dose and duration, with the lowest cost to them and their community. Safe and effective prescribing is based on a sound knowledge of the disciplines of pharmacology which is a major challenge encountered by students. 4 The above requirements will be fulfilled by the WHO Guide to Good Prescribing which gives medical students a normative model for therapeutic reasoning and prescribing and provides a six-step guide to the process of rational prescribing. 5 ABSTRACTBackground: This study was developed to know the students' views regarding personal drug (P-drug) concept in rational prescription of drugs and also giving them training of creating and using personal drug concept. Methods: 40 medical students (5 th semester) divided in four groups were involved voluntarily in a three phase, questionnaire based and prospective study. In first and second phase students were taught and asked to derive P-drug using different standard text books and Current Index of Medical Specialties (CIMS) by analyzing efficacy, safety, cost and convenience of drugs used for type II diabetes mellitus. Third phase was designed to know the students' perception regarding the exercise and difficulties faced in the process of P-drug selection. It contained demographic and 12 questions with answer using Likert scale. Results: Students selected biguanide (metformin) as a P-drug in terms of efficacy, safety, cost and convenience. 95% (36 out of 40) responded in the questionnaire, out of which 92% (33 out of 36) had given answer with mean score ≥4. Overall median score was 4 and Interquartile Range was 4-5. 89% (32) strongly agreed that P-dug selection teaching helped them to understand pharmacology better. Majority (83% or 30) were in favour of introducing P-drug selection exercises in undergraduate pharmacology curriculum. Conclusions: P-drug selection exercise helped students to understand the differences among various drugs used for the treatment of type II diabetes mellitus and given them a strong foundation for developing rational use of the medicine in their future career as a doctor.

Positive Attitude Towards Personal Drug Selection among Undergraduate Medical Students of a Medical College

“…In this study among 132 medical students, 126 (95.45%) had a positive attitude on P-drug selection exercises which is similar to another study with a prevalence of 90%. 5 Another study reported the prevalence of positive attitude on p-drug selection with 74.9%. 9 , 10 P-drug practical is dynamically understood and perceived by medical undergraduates and also included in the university final practical exam, hence it is encouraged in our settings.…”

“… 3 - 5 It helps to guide educational interventions for P-drug selection exercises that can improve students' abilities to make well-informed, patientcentred decisions about medication therapy by identifying obstacles and knowledge gaps. 5 …”

“…2 P-drug selection exercises help students to make prescribing decisions based on impartial, objective information and the activity of P-drug selection can help to reduce irrational prescribing, which is a worldwide problem. [3][4][5] It helps to guide educational interventions for P-drug selection exercises that can improve students' abilities to make well-informed, patientcentred decisions about medication therapy by identifying obstacles and knowledge gaps. 5 This study aimed to find out the prevalence of positive sciences were included in the study.…”

“…[3][4][5] It helps to guide educational interventions for P-drug selection exercises that can improve students' abilities to make well-informed, patientcentred decisions about medication therapy by identifying obstacles and knowledge gaps. 5 This study aimed to find out the prevalence of positive sciences were included in the study. A convenience sampling method was used.…”

Personal formulary for gonorrhea developed by residents of pharmacology

“…Higher total score indicated a better value. 12 The drug with the highest score became the personal drug choice. Next step was to verify suitability for selected P drug for particular patient.…”