Background: Pharmacovigilance (PV)/drug safety and rational prescribing are relevant to both practitioners and policy-makers but the competency of professionals is still insufficient.
Aim and Objective: The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an interactive structured teaching, learning module on PV and rational prescription in enhancing the competency of medical undergraduates. The secondary objective was to assess the perceptions of students and faculty about the module.
Materials and Methods: After ethical approval, sixty-four 2nd year M.B.B.S students in a tertiary care teaching hospital participated in an intervention study using a structured teaching-learning module. This interactive module was made according to the WHO good prescription guidelines. Students were enrolled by non-probability convenience sampling. After orientation about the study, informed consent was taken; and the students were then divided into groups. The control group was taught in conventional way and the interventional group with the module. Outcome of both groups was assessed by posttests conducted by validated questionnaire. The faculty and students feedback were collected using pre-validated questionnaire based on Likert scale. The mean scores and level of significance were assessed using independent sample t-test and P < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant.
Results: The findings clearly indicate that teaching module was very effective. There was retention of the topic by the students evident from the scores in assessments. Faculty feedback showed increased satisfaction in teaching and increased understanding among students.
Conclusions: The undergraduate medical students, knowledge of what drugs they have to prescribe to a patient does not necessarily translate to a rational prescription unless we give proper training to them. This module provides learners an opportunity to develop and practice skills that directly improve self-directed learning.
Key words: Pharmacovigilance; Rational prescription; Medical education, Adverse drug reaction monitoring
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