An evaluation of pattern of adverse drug reactions reporting by undergraduate medical students in a tertiary care hospital

Background: Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are an important cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide and reporting ADRs voluntarily is fundamental to medical drug safety surveillance but gross underreporting of ADRs is a cause for a concern. Being key health care professional, physicians, pharmacists and nurses have immense responsibility in reporting of ADRs. Therefore, the sensitization and involvement of undergraduate medical students can reduce underreporting. This study is aimed at evaluating knowledge, attitude and reporting of quality of ADRs by undergraduate medical students.Methods: The study was conducted after sensitizing the second professional year undergraduate students about Pharmacovigilance as part of their internal assessment and asked them to submit reports of ADR observed during their clinical posting.Results: A total of 82 ADR抯 were reported after sensitization with majority of them i.e. 30 related to skin and appendages disorder followed by gastrointestinal tract with antibiotics i.e. 28 and analgesics being most common probable/possible culprits.Conclusions: The response percentage of reporting ADRs was 54.66%. Medical students being future healthcare professionals should be exposed to ADR reporting during their clinical teaching posting as a part of sensitization and make them actively involved in reporting to improve detection rate and make Pharmacovigilance a success.

descriptive study of knowledge of Pharmacovigilance and adverse drug reactions among second professional undergraduate medical students in a teaching hospital.

Background: Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are adverse consequences of drug therapy being one of the leading causes of morbidity and represent a substantial burden of healthcare resources. Though Pharmacovigilance program was started in India in 1982, the awareness about it is much lower and underreporting of ADRs is a common problem with only 6-10% of all ADRs being reported. The objective of this study was to analyze the baseline knowledge of awareness regarding the ADRs and Pharmacovigilance activity in the undergraduate medical students who are future doctors of society so as to foster a culture of reporting ADRs, to fulfill various it is lacunaes and make adjustments of medical student’s curriculum in order to improve practice of reporting. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among second professional medical students in July 2015 to assess the knowledge of ADRs and Pharmacovigilance activities using a questionnaire to collect the information. Part “A” consisted of choosing the most appropriate answer and Part “B” included replying with “Yes” or “No.” Data were expressed as percentage proportions. Results: Out of the total of 150 enrolled students, 134 filled and returned the questionnaire with students having a mediocre knowledge about Pharmacovigilance and majority of them (94%) vouching that reporting of ADRs should be mandatory as it is going to benefit patients (99.2%). Conclusions: Our study revealed that there are gaps between knowledge regarding ADRs and Pharmacovigilance that needs to be addressed on priority basis for the success of the Pharmacovigilance program and better clinical management of patients in general.

A descriptive study of prevalence, pattern and attitude of self-medication among second professional medical students in a tertiary care center.

Background: The implications of self-medication practices are increasingly recognized around the world as self-medication is a common practice worldwide and irrational use of drugs is a cause of concern more so among medical students as they are future medical practitioners. The objective was to determine the prevalence, attitude, and knowledge of self-medication among second professional medical students. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among medical students in February-March 2015. Data were collected through self-administered questionnaire and expressed as percentage frequency. Results: Of the 138 students, only 122 filled and returned the questionnaire. The majority of the students self-medicated because of the illness being too trivial for consultation (63.1%) or had previous experience of same illness (63.1%), headache (77.8%), flu/cold and sore throat (58.1%), closely followed by fever (52.4%) were the main symptoms leading to self-medication. Commonly used medicines were analgesics (74.6%), headache relievers (71.3%), antibiotics (64%), and antipyretics (50.8%). A large proportion (42.6%) and 35% used every few months or 2-3 times per year, respectively. Conclusion: Our study showed that self-medication is widely practiced among students, easy availability of medicine probably being the cause. Educating the students regarding advantages and disadvantages of self-medication is necessary to create awareness.