Publication:

Feedback of second-year medical students' towards teaching/learning of pharmacology in a private medical college of India

Background In order to ensure a successful and sustainable curriculum, regular feedback from students about their views of teaching and learning experience is a must. The purpose of this study was to assess whether course content and teaching-learning aids are actually supporting the curriculum goals and what reforms can be implemented for the betterment of teaching pharmacology for medical students.

Methods After Institutional Review Board approval (IRB), a total of 120 second-year medical students of the Kamineni Academy of Medical Sciences and Research Centre (KAMSRC), L.B Nagar, Hyderabad, Telangana were interviewed with a structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were used for analysis of data and the results were expressed as percentage (%).

Results Pharmacology was considered a useful subject by 51% of second-year-MBBS students. They found cardiovascular system (34%) followed by chemotherapy (21%) as the most interesting topics. 25% students liked didactic lectures followed by MCQs (19%). A whopping 50% suggested the lectures should be clinically-oriented. 35% students studied from a combination of lecture notes and text books. According to them, the pharmacology teacher should be knowledgeable and student-friendly. About 77% students think that pharmacology teachers have those qualities.

Conclusions This study revealed that the medical students wish to learn pharmacology from both theoretical and practical approaches. There is a need to incorporate more clinically-oriented exercises like case studies and clinical vignette containing multiple choice questions (MCQs) to better equip the students toward clinical therapeutics. It is therefore imperative to adapt the curriculum of pharmacology in line with the present trend.