Pharmacotherapeutics knowledge of some nonemergency and emergency conditions among medical undergraduates in an Indian medical college.

OBJECTIVES: To assess pharmacotherapeutics (PT) knowledge of second professional medical undergraduates.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: It is a questionnaire-based cross-sectional study. The questionnaire was designed to objectively assess the current level of knowledge of PT acquired by the second MBBS students in a medical college in India. Thirty Type-A multiple choice questions (MCQs) related with the PT of common and important medical conditions and some emergency conditions were administered to 125 participants. Grading of knowledge was also done as poor, average, and good both subjectively and objectively. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze responses. Association of PT knowledge with respect to mode of admission in a medical college was analyzed with Chi-square test.

RESULTS: MCQs related with PT of nonemergency conditions were responded correctly by 9.8-77.7% of participants. MCQs related with PT of some emergency conditions were responded correctly by 17-66.1% of participants. No statistically significant association was observed in PT knowledge with respect to mode of admission.

CONCLUSION: Gross deficiency in the PT knowledge can potentially and adversely affect future rational prescribing skills. PT knowledge about common medical conditions should be emphasized during undergraduate training program.