CONTEXT:Fresh Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery graduates (FMGs) are responsible for the majority of prescription errors and irrational use of medicines. Little research has explored their knowledge on rational prescribing practices.AIMS:The present study aimed to evaluate the awareness of rational use of medicines (RUMs) among the FMGs.SETTINGS AND DESIGN:A multicentric, cross-sectional, and questionnaire-based study was conducted among 308 FMGs during the internship orientation program.SUBJECTS AND METHODS:The structured and prevalidated questionnaire consisted of 35 statements on important aspects of RUM.STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED:Data were analyzed using SPSS version 24.0 at 95% level of significance with Fisher's exact test.RESULTS:Nearly 31% of FMGs did not know that the generic drugs are equally efficacious as branded drugs whereas 53% were in support of pregnant female should not consume any drug. Nearly 58% of FMGs were confused about deciding the dose in children and 18% were in favor of using antibiotics in common cold. Almost 55% of FMGs were disagree for adjusting the dose of antidiabetic drugs by patient depending on the meal taken whereas 12% were not aware of the importance of compliance of antihypertensive drugs and 40% were supporting the safety of fruits in chronic renal disease. The FMG from government colleges answered more correctly than that of the private colleges.CONCLUSIONS:The awareness of RUM among FMG is not satisfactory, and also there is a gap in its implementation. Thus, they should be supervised during the initial phase of their medical practice.
Background:
The Clinical Trials Registry of India (CTRI) was launched in July 2007 and will enter its tenth year in 2017. While its mission is to encourage prospective trial registration, CTRI does permit retrospective trial registration. Against this backdrop, the present audit was carried out with the primary objective of assessing the nature and extent of trials retrospectively registered with CTRI.
Methods:
All studies registered in the year 2016 were searched within CTRI using the keyword “CTRI/2016.” The total number of trials registered in that year, their phase, the source of funding and their nature (Interventional or observational; whether postgraduate theses or otherwise, source of funding (pharmaceutical industry/Government of India/Institute Funded), whether prospectively or retrospectively registered were noted. We also tested for the association between the nature of the trial and retrospective registration using the Chi-square test and generated crude odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals.
Results:
A total of 1147 studies were registered in 2016, of which 719 (63%) were retrospectively registered. Interventional studies formed the majority of studies at
n
= 926 (81%), while postgraduate theses constituted half of the studies (384; 53%). Postgraduate theses (relative to all other studies) were twice as likely to be retrospectively registered (cOR 2.4 [1.8, 3.0],
p
< 0.0001). Studies funded by the pharmaceutical industry were four times more likely to be registered prospectively relative to nonindustry funded studies (cOR 4.4 [3.2, 5.9],
p
< 0.0001).
Conclusion:
Given that CTRI will be insisting on prospective registration effective April 1, 2018, and as trial registration is an ethical, scientific and moral imperative, prospective registration must always be done as prerequisite to participant protection.
Objective: To observe a prescription pattern in elderly patients attending outpatient department (OPD) and evaluating prescriptions according to theWorld Health Organization (WHO) prescription indicators.Methods: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted from July to September 2015. Patients of either gender, age 60 years or more, attending OPD in tertiary care hospital were included in the study. Prescriptions of medical practitioners were collected and evaluated for demographic data and the WHO drug prescribing indicators.Results: A total of 600 patients were enrolled in the study. The majority of the patients were in the age group 60-69 years (66.33%) with male preponderance (61%). The average number of drugs per prescription was 3.41. Out of 2045 drugs prescribed, 1261 drugs (61.66%) were prescribed by their generic name and 784 drugs (38.33%) were prescribed by their brand name. 1700 drugs (83.12%) prescribed were from the WHOs essential medicines list 2015. Total encounters involving injectable usage were 0.15%. Drugs acting on the cardiovascular system (21.12%) were the most frequently prescribed, followed by nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) (20%). Ranitidine (16.62%) is the most frequently prescribed drug. Conclusions: In this study, drug prescription pattern was rational as per the WHO drug prescribing indicators. However, issues such as polypharmacy and inaccuracies of dose and duration were seen.Keywords: Drug utilization study, Geriatric, Outpatient department, Rational use of medicines.
The recently published Cardiovascular Outcomes for People Using Anticoagulation Strategies (COMPASS) trial evaluated the hypothesis that rivaroxaban alone or in combination with aspirin would be more effective than aspirin alone for secondary prevention. In India, stable cardiovascular disease occurs in a much younger age group relative to the rest of the world.Our critical analysis of COMPASS trial showed that the younger age group appeared to derive greater benefit from the rivaroxaban + aspirin combination (relative to aspirin alone) as seen with number needed to treat metrics as compared to the older age group.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.