Perceptions of faculty at Indian medical schools about animal use in undergraduate medical education

ABSTRACT

Traditionally, animal experiments have played an integral role in Indian medical education in disciplines like Pharmacology and Physiology. These experiments reinforce knowledge which is well documented or redundant in current clinical practice. The present study aims to measure and compare the perceptions of the medical faculty about animal use in undergraduate medical education with respect to gender, duration of teaching experience academic position and educational qualifications. Data was collected from Indian medical faculty who were using animals in undergraduate medical education. The instrument used was 35 item, structured, validated and pre-tested questionnaire with 4 domains Advantages [18 items], Disadvantages [5 items], Conduct of animal experiments [8 items] and Alternatives to existing animal experiments [4 items]. The global score for all domains was 140. Each item was scored from 0-4 with 4= Strongly Agree; 3=Agree; 2=Unsure; 1=Disagree; 0=Strongly Disagree. Collected data was transferred to PASW-17 for analysis. Global, domain and individual item scores were assessed with Mann Whitney test. Fifty nine faculty participated in the study. Majority of the faculty were females [68%], with more than eight years of teaching experience [66%] and had terminal degrees -MD/Ph. D[78%]. Mean + SD global score was 72 + 20.8 Mean + SD scores for domains were 40.5 + 13.9; 8.8 + 3.2; 17.6 +4.6 and 5.3 +3.4 respectively. There was no statistically significant difference in the mean global, domain and individual item scores with respect to gender and educational qualifications. However, significant differences were observed in domain scores and individual item scores with respect to teaching experience. Indian medical faculty supported animal use in undergraduate medical education in spite of being aware of the drawbacks of animal experiments and the availability of alternatives