ABSTRACT
Background: The preference and opinion of undergraduate students on teaching of pharmacology was assessed using structured-based questionnaires. The objective was to determine the best way to teach pharmacology and the areas the students prefer most.Methods: The questionnaires were administered to students during academic sessions in any of their pharmacology lectures by the help of technical assistants. It was also ensured that the identity of the students was not made known except for the gender. A total of 8 questions with options ranging from 2-4 were used. Each respondent was to select only one option as the most preferred. A total of 405 students participated during the study period and it was ensured that no student participated more than once. The students recruited were 4th and 5th year medical and pharmacy students of the University of Jos, Jos, Nigeria for the 2014/2015 and 2015/2016 academic sessions.Results: The results showed that the students have high preference for latest technology teaching aids such as power point presentation and use of software for lecture notes.Conclusions: Knowledge of pharmacodynamics, clinical pharmacology and laboratory experiment were preferred and significant differences exist between observed and expected results and also between males and females in preferences among some of the options. Students need to be informed at the beginning of their lectures that pharmacology is a subject that must be regarded as a whole with no areas of preference.
ABSTRACT
Background: Reports of adverse drug reactions (ADR) in the era of increasing uptake of antiretroviral drugs particularly in Sub Saharan Africa and especially in Nigeria have been on the rise. Aim: We set out to collate and characterize the pattern of adverse drug reactions in patients on antiretroviral drugs in our treatment centre. Study Design: Retrospective Cross sectional study Place and Duration of Study: The study was carried out at the APIN Centre, Jos University Teaching Hospital, Plateau State, North Central Nigeria from July 2010 to December 2012. Methodology: We reviewed the case files and data base entries of 215 patients attending our treatment centre. These are patients who had reported cases of adverse drug reactions. We took note of demographic profiles of the patients, the medical history as well as the different types of antiretroviral drugs the patients were taking. The types of adverse drug reactions and offending drugs were noted and categorized using descriptive statistics. Results: Out of 215 case files and databases of patients in which there were reports of adverse drug reactions, 80 (37.2%) were male and 135 (62.8%) were female. Almost thirty two percent (31.6%) of the patients were on Zidovudine/Lamivudine/Nevirapine (AZT/3TC/NVP), 14.9%on Zidovudine/Lamivudine/Tenofovir/Lopinavir/ritonavir (AZT/3TC/TDF/LPV/r), 13.5% on Stavudine/Lamivudine/Nevirapine (D4T/3TC/NVP). Anemia was the most common ADR representing 23.4% of all ADRs and 29.3% of all ADRs were associated with Zidovudine. Conclusion: Our study shows that in antiretroviral treatment centre such as our own, healthcare providers/practitioners should take particular note of troubling adverse drug reactions such as anaemia. Healthcare providers/practitioners should particularly have in place alternative treatment regimens as these adverse drug reactions may be potential cause of medication non adherence which in the long run lead to treatment failure.