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. 2013 Jan-Feb;45(1):4-8.
doi: 10.4103/0253-7613.106426.

Rational pharmacotherapy training for fourth-year medical students

Ayse Gelal  1 , Mukaddes Gumustekin, M Aylin Arici, Sedef Gidener
Affiliations

Rational pharmacotherapy training for fourth-year medical students

Ayse Gelal et al. Indian J Pharmacol. 2013 Jan-Feb.

Abstract

Objectives: In this study we aimed to evaluate the impact of Rational Pharmacotherapy (RPT) course program, reinforced by video footages, on the rational pharmacotherapy skills of the students.

Materials and methods: RPT course program has been conducted in Dokuz Eylul University School of Medicine since 2008/9. The course has been organised in accordance with World Health Organisation (WHO) Good Prescribing Guide. The aim of the course was to improve the problem solving skills (methodology for selection of the (p)ersonel-drug, prescription writing and informing patient about his illness and drugs) and communication skills of students. The impact of the course has been measured by pre/post-test design by an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE). In academic year 2010/11, to further improve OSCE score of the students we added doctor-patient communication video footages to the RPT course programme. During training, the students were asked to evaluate the doctor-patient communication and prescription on two video footages using a checklist followed by group discussions.

Results: Total post-test OSCE score was significantly higher for 2010/11 academic year students (n = 147) than it was for 2009/10 year students (n = 131). The 2010/11 academic year students performed significantly better than the 2009/10 academic year students on four steps of OSCE. These steps were "defining the patient's problem", "specifying the therapeutic objective", "specifying the non-pharmacological treatment" and "choosing a (drug) treatment, taking all relevant patient characteristics into account".

Conclusions: The present study demonstrated that the implementation of video footages and group discussions to WHO/Good Prescribing Method improved the fourth-year medical students' performance in rational pharmacotherapy skills.

Keywords: Education; medical students; rational pharmacotherapy; rational prescribing skills; video footages.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict Interest: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Problem solving score on the six steps of the World Health Organization (WHO) six-step plan for the 2010/11 academic year (n = 147). Data are presented as mean percentage of the maximum with error bars. P< 0.05 was considered significant. □ pre-test results; ■ post-test results
Figure 2
Figure 2
(a) Problem solving pre-test OSCE score on the six steps of the World Health Organization (WHO) six-step plan for the 2009/10 (n = 131) and 2010/11 (n = 147) academic year. Data are presented as mean percentage of the maximum with error bars. P < 0.05 was considered significant. □ 2009/10 academic year; ■ 2010/11 academic year (b) Problem solving post-test OSCE score on the six steps of the World Health Organization (WHO) six-step plan for the 2009/10 (n = 131) and 2010/11 (n = 147) academic year. Data are presented as mean percentage of the maximum with error bars. P < 0.05 was considered significant. #160; 2009/10 academic year; ■ 2010/11 academic year
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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