Intern’s knowledge of clinical pharmacology and therapeutics at Puducherry: a cross-sectional study.

ABSTRACT

Background: Internship is the intermediate period between under-graduation and general practice. The dexterity of health professional relies upon prescribing practices. Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics (CPT) is a crucial discipline for interns to acquire safe and rational prescription of drugs. Cultivating sound knowledge about CPT during under graduation is, henceforth, mandatory. Aims and objectives: 1. To assess whether the undergraduate CPT teaching and internship training had prepared interns adequately for safe and rational prescription. 2. To assess the awareness and reporting of adverse drug reaction (ADR). Methods: 110 interns were enrolled after obtaining informed written consent. A structured questionnaire was given to them including basic demographic information, undergraduate CPT teaching, experience of ADR and any deficiency in the under-graduate CPT teaching. Results: Response rate was 91 % in which 53 were males and 47 females. 81 considered themselves aware of CPT. 56% & 57% interns were able to prescribe drug safely and rationally respectively. Without supervision, they were confident to prescribe antacids (93%), vitamins and minerals (90%), NSAIDS (85%), antihistamines (82%), antibiotics (75%), antiemetics (62%) and antiasthmatics (52%). Only 22% had reported ADR and opined that it could lead to hospitalization (51%), prolonged hospital stay (33%), morbidity (16%) and death (21%). According to interns, the topics where more emphasis needed were ADR, dosage calculation, pediatric and emergency medicine and therapeutic drug monitoring during undergraduate CPT teaching. Conclusion: CPT teaching should be improved at undergraduate level for safe and rational prescribing including ADR monitoring, ADR reporting and dosage calculation.