Knowledge, attitude and practice of pharmacovigilance among medical students

Background: Spontaneous reporting of adverse drug reaction (ADR) is main part of pharmacovigilance. This study was done to assess knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of pharmacovigilance among 2nd year medical students.Methods: This was a questionnaire based cross sectional study. The study participants were 2nd year MBBS students at pacific institute of medical sciences. Total number of questions given was 20. The data was analyzed by MS excel.Results: Total 100 students were given 20 questions. Among 20 questions, 10 were based on knowledge, 4 were based on attitude and 5 were based on practice. One question was asked to determine the reasons for underreporting. 95% students gave correct definition of pharmacovigilance. 96% students were having knowledge about existing National pharmacovigilance programme of India. 97% gave correct answer of side effect occurring during pregnancy as teratogenicity. 99 % said that reporting ADR is necessary.Conclusions: In our study most of the students gave correct answers of knowledge based questions. So knowledge of pharmacovigilance is gradually improving among medical students

Experiential learning of ethnopharmacological sources of drugs through rotating trios micro discussion in MBBS students: an innovative I-tray teaching methodology

Background: Complementary and alternative medicine is very robust in some parts of the world. The study was done to impart the experiential learning related to sources of drugs in a pharmacy practical class for MBBS students.Methods: We used ingredient-tray (I-Tray) teaching tool consisting of two parts to generate experiential learning in MBBS students about ethno pharmacological sources of drugs. Innovatively designed I -tray filled with two sizes plastic containers (100 ml and 50 ml sizes used for collecting biological samples of sputum and urine) containing crude drug medicinal sources which were arranged in gutters of the tray. They were sorted into five categories such as plants (flowers of Vinca rosea, bark of Terminalia arjuna, roots of Rauwolfia serpentine and Eucalyptus leaves); animals (formalin preservatives freshwater leech, shells and vaccines); minerals (kaolin, potassium permanganate and charcoal); oils and others. Three charts of 4 square feet sizes were used for demonstration of synthetic, microbiological and genetically engineered drug sources.Results: The students’ approval rate of I-tray was mean yes value of 105.78 for a tool of active learning out of total 113 students. Around 100%, 98.23 % and 97.35% students utilised application of concept (cognition), faculty of smell (affective) and volunteering (psychomotor) in the class. However female students had statistically significant score against this set up of the class depicting gender specificity of the learning process.Conclusions: Thus teaching traditional sources of drugs through I-tray impart higher order social, place based and experiential learning of medicine

Formative assessment of the communication skills related to drug delivery systems on standardized patients through group objective structured clinical encounters in second year medical students

Background: Choosing an appropriate Drug Delivery System (DDS) influences the acceptability, adherence and better outcome of the therapy in the patients. The present study was planned to evaluate the second year MBBS students on standardized patients (SP) using Group Objective Structured Clinical Encounters (GOSCE) after content delivery by traditional power point class versus experiential teaching methodology.Methods: DDS practical class was held in two larger groups after adding two odd sub-groups (1+3) as ‘A’ (64 students) and even sub-groups (2+4) as ‘B’ (66 students). The formative GOSCE evaluation was done 2 weeks after the classes by the trained physician examiners as per the Medical Council of Canada pre-determined scoring instruments.Results: The average magnitude of change in GOSCE scoring is extremely statistical significant on t-test (P< 0.0001) in favour of experiential teaching methodology for all the skills. The statistical significant percentage of students were able to extract the treatment history in respect of eliciting problem, reasons for non-compliance, methods of intake, explain the technique and showed the courteous professional behaviours.Conclusions: The clinical cases as SP in pharmacology teaching for developing competency based communication skills and GOSCE are the appropriate methodology for evaluation of large student group for experiential DDS training