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<p class="abstract"><strong>Background:</strong> CVDs have emerged as a leading cause of mortality and morbidity in the world as well as in India. Drug usage is life saving and at times many drugs may be needed. Drug utilization studies aid to find the appropriateness of treatment, identify shortcomings if any, and provide a feedback to the healthcare providers to improve their management with drugs. So such types of studies are of vital importance in every hospital.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Methods:</strong> This was a prospective, observational study of 180 patients with CVDs admitted in medicine and cardiology wards of a tertiary care hospital, conducted through case records and patients’ interviews. Data was represented as mean±SD, number and frequency.  </p><p class="abstract"><strong>Results:</strong> Incidence of cardiovascular diseases was more in males (56.67%) than the females (43.33%). Average number of drugs prescribed per patient was 9.16 and that of cardiovascular drugs was 5.08 ± 2.15. Antiplatelets (88.88%) were the most commonly prescribed cardiovascular drugs followed by hypolipidemics (82.22%). About 15.06% of injectables and 1.2% of fixed dose combinations (FDCs) were prescribed. Drugs prescribed by generic names were 1.6% and those from the National List of Essential Medicines were 92.79%.</p><p><strong>Conclusions:</strong> The results of this study suggested: polypharmacy, overuse of injections and low prescribing habits from essential drug list. Though antiplatelet, hypolipidemic use was higher, these are an essential part of treatment of certain CVDs. </p>

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<p class="abstract"><strong>Background:</strong> Undergraduate medical education aims at sculpting the future physicians. Knowledge gained during this period helps the physician to deal with human ailments and thus human life. It is necessary to ensure that students learn what is important and thus it is very important to ask the right questions in the examinations.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Methods:</strong> This is a retrospective analytical study involving evaluation of university theory examination question papers of pharmacology of II^nd MBBS at our institute. Question papers from the year 2000 to 2016 were analyzed for weightage to content areas as regards to the syllabus.  </p><p class="abstract"><strong>Results:</strong> Autonomic nervous system (25.28%) and cardiovascular system (22.30%) in paper I and chemotherapy (33.50%) and central nervous system (23.76%) in paper II are the maximum weightage content areas. Some aspects which are of clinical importance remained uncovered in a few papers, example: autacoids, kidney, gastrointestinal tract, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, miscellaneous.</p><p><strong>Conclusions:</strong> For consistency of validity in the assessment, we suggest that it should be based on structured guidelines. Methods like test blueprinting and table of specifications may be used.</p>