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Background: A package insert is a document approved by the administering licensing authority, which is provided with the package of a drug. A good package insert can prove to be of immense help to doctors as they are evidence based and are updated from time to time. The objective to study the awareness about package inserts among postgraduate medical students.Methods: The present study was a cross-sectional observational study carried out on 68 postgraduate medical students of Acharaya Shri Chander College of Medical Sciences and Hospital Sidhra, Jammu (J & K) in the month of February 2017 after taking approval from the institutional ethical committee. Pre-validated self-administered questionnaire was used to elicit responses from the students. The questionnaire consisted of specified questions regarding knowledge and opinion about package inserts.Results: In the present study, 86.7% of the students understand the relevance of Package inserts (PIs). About 72% of the students think that PIs are a necessary add-on to drug information and 70.6% of the students think that information given on package inserts is necessary for the patients. However, only 2.9% of the students had the knowledge of Drug Acts governing the information to be provided on PIs in India. About 86.8% of the students think that PIs should also be in regional language apart from in English language.Conclusions: It was found from the present study that the majority of the postgraduate students were aware about the package inserts available with the medicines but the information provided on package inserts was not optimally used by them. To achieve the target of optimally utilization of information provided in the package inserts, the PIs should be designed by considering the needs and information of two differently educated target groups i.e; patients and doctors.
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Background: Migraine is a common debilitating headache the exact cause of which is not known. Efficient and proper treatment of migraine involves accurate diagnosis, educating the patients and to make them aware of the disorder and finding the best medication for the management of pain. This will also increases the patients� adherence to medication and will help in improving their quality of life. The objective of the study was to assess the awareness of migraine patients towards various aspects of migraine in a tertiary care teaching hospital.Methods: This was a cross-sectional observational questionnaire-based study conducted from January to March 2017 in ASCOMS&H, Sidhra, Jammu. The self-administered pre-validated questionnaires pertaining to various aspects of migraine were distributed among the patients diagnosed of having migraine and attending the Neurology Out patient department (OPD). Patients of either sex with a diagnosis of migraine and age ?18 years were included in the study. The data was analyzed with the help of descriptive statistics.Results: In the present study, majority of the patients suffering from migraine were in the age group of 18-40 years (58.6%) and females were more commonly affected about 60.9% than males. There was no family history of migraine in 78.1% of the patients. About 87.4% of the patients had 2-6 attacks of migraine per month. The most common triggering factor cited by the patients was lack of sleep in 29.9% followed by stress in 27.6% and less water intake in 26.4% of the patients.Conclusions: From the present study, it can be concluded that the patients were aware about the associated signs and symptoms but they had inadequate knowledge about all the aspects of the disease. Therefore, it is important to make patients more aware of the disease to increase their compliance to treatment and to improve their quality of life.
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Background: Antibiotics are one of the commonest prescribing drugs in day to day practice. However indiscriminate and irrational use of antibiotics has given rise to the emergence of antibiotic resistance. Thus, intervention in the form of educating students and making them aware about this important concept should be initiated at the gross root level right from the beginning of medical profession. Objective was to assess the comparative awareness regarding antimicrobial resistance between first and second year MBBS students.Methods: This was a comparative, cross-sectional questionnaire based study. Two forty six undergraduate medical students, 118 students from 1st year and 129 students from 2nd year MBBS were included in the study to assess the extent of knowledge and about the problem of antibiotic resistance. Self-administered questionnaire was used to collect the data from respondents. The questionnaires of both the groups were analyzed for the responses of the students and were compared using student ‘t’ test and chi-square test.Results: Majority of the participants 63.6% and 72.9% had completed the full course of antibiotics as prescribed by the physician. Statistically significant difference (p<0.05) was found between the two groups where in 58.4% of the first year and 16.3% of the second year students were of the view that antibiotics can be used for viral illnesses. Only 44.1% students of first year knew the reasons for antibiotic resistance.Conclusions: It can be concluded from the present study that second year medical students were more aware regarding antimicrobial resistance as compared to first year MBBS students who represented the general public. Thus, it is very important to educate the students in a practical manner about this concept as they are the future health care givers who can promote the rational use of antibiotics in near future.
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Background: Fixed-dose combination (FDC) agents could be considered as an effective therapy in chronic illnesses like hypertension, which have multifactorial etiology. At present, many FDCs have come into the market without being assessed for their efficacy, safety and rationality by the drug regulatory authorities. The objective of the present study was to assess the rational use of fixed dose drug combinations in hypertension.Methods: It was a cross-sectional observational study conducted in the cardiology outpatient department of ASCOMS and H, Sidhra, Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir from February 2016 to July 2016. In the study 92 prescriptions of hypertensive patients who were on anti-hypertensive fixed-dose drug combinations (FDCs) were recruited after thoroughly evaluated for inclusion and exclusion criteria. Data obtained includes the demographic profile of the patients, pattern of the prescribed FDCs in hypertension, evaluation of the rationality of the FDCs based upon the comprehensive seven-point criteria developed by Panda et al.Results: In the present study, about sixteen different anti-hypertensive FDCs were observed in the prescriptions of 92 patients during six-month period. It was observed that about 93.75% of FDCs were dual drug combinations. Among the dual drug combinations, most commonly used combination was Olmesartan (ARB; Angiotensin receptor blocker) + Amlodipinine (Calcium channel blocker) in 17.4% of patients. It was also observed that among the 16 different anti-hypertensive fixed dose combinations analysed, 12 FDCs (75%) were found to be rational and 4 FDCs (25%) were found to be irrational.Conclusions: In the present study it was found that 75% of the FDCs prescribed were rational and 25% were irrational. Therefore, before marketing the FDCs proper assessment of their efficacy, safety and rationality should be done.
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Background: Chronopharmacology is the science dealing with the optimization of drug effects and the minimization of adverse effects by timing medication in relation to the biological rhythm. This concept came into picture to make us understand about periodic and predictable changes in both desired effects and tolerance of medication Chronotherapeutics approach gives more accurate determination of the time when patients are at highest risk and in greatest need of therapy. This Chronopharmacological principle is used in the therapy of various diseases like cardiovascular diseases, allergy and many more. The objective of the study was to analyse whether chronopharmacological approach was being applied in clinical practice by comparing chronopharmacology of 4 drugs to their prescribing pattern by the physicians.Methods: This was observational study where 700 prescriptions written by physicians were audited. To study all the drugs would have been tedious so four commonly used drugs were chosen that is, Proton pump inhibitors, statins, Beta blockers and subcutaneous Insulin.Results: Results showed that chronopharmacological approach has been applied in the clinical field though physician didn’t have clear concept about chronopharmacology and it is relation to the prescribing. Despite this, maximum physician prescribing pattern was comparable to the chronopharmacological data except in case of Proton pump inhibitors.Conclusions: It is concluded that Chronotherapeutics approach gives more accurate determination of the time when patients are at highest risk and in greatest need of therapy. Nevertheless, this variation is only seldom considered by clinicians. If drugs are prescribed by following chronopharmacological approach it can prove beneficial to the patients as more of effectiveness of the drug and lesser side effects.
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Enzyme inhibition has emerged as an important area in development of therapeutics. The basis of a large number of therapeutics used in modern day medicine for treatment of various aliments is enzyme inhibition. This review is a compilation of nearly all the therapeutic entities, currently in use, embracing almost each area of therapy including antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, antimalarials, anticancer, antihypertensive, diuretics, antianginals, antithromboembolics, hypolipidemics, cardiotonics, anti-inflammatory, analgesics, antipyretics, antigout, antiasthamatics, antidepressants, cognition enhancers, antidiabetics, antithyroid drugs, drugs used for myasthenia gravis, peptic ulcer, parkinson’s disease, BHP, osteoarthritis, glaucoma, erectile dysfunction, septic shock, inflammation and/or neuro-degenerative disorders.