A questionnaire based study of students' opinion on the teaching and learning methods in pharmacology in a medical school of India

Abstract

INTRODUCTIONPharmacology as a discipline is undergoing continuous development and is becoming an important component of all areas of medicine. Prescribing skills of newly graduated doctors largely depend upon good foundation in pharmacology. To acquire the necessary prescribing skills it is important that medical students appreciate pharmacological principles and understand their application in clinical situations. Consequently, reforms in undergraduate teaching are the need of the hour. It is generally agreed that reviewing the teaching program at regular intervals and modifications in the methodologies of imparting basic knowledge about drugs and drug therapies is a must. Many attempts have been made by various colleges all over India and abroad to make the teaching of pharmacology more interesting and relevant. Traditionally, the teaching of pharmacology in medical schools follows a discipline-based and lecture-based approach with a heavy emphasis on acquiring factual knowledge concerning drugs. Also pharmacy, animal experiments, prescription writing, and clinical problems solving included additionally. It is difficult to mend student perception with traditional methods of teaching, though some modification in teaching-learning ABSTRACT Background: Pharmacology as a discipline is undergoing continuous development. It is generally agreed that reviewing the teaching program at regular intervals and modifications in the methodologies of imparting basic knowledge about drugs and drug therapies is a must. Students' perceptions and attitude regarding the different teaching-learning and evaluation methods are important for further development and restructuring of medical education in future. The present study was undertaken to gather students' perception about pharmacology teaching and learning methods. Methods: A 20 item prevalidated Questionnaire proforma was distributed to two batches of undergraduate medical students. The completed questionnaires were collected and data was analysed. Results: Of the 100 students who answered, 62% students considered the importance of pharmacology above all subjects. Among the various topics central nervous system 60%, chemotherapy 52% and cardiovascular pharmacology 42% were considered the most interesting topics. Of the teaching methodologies, more than half of the students (62%) found interactive lectures most helpful, whilst 39 % rated audio-visual aided lectures. In terms of reforms, 48 % of the students suggested to introduce small group discussion hours, 44 % suggested making use of more audio-visual aids and 21 % wanted more clinical pharmacology. Discussions at the end of class (55 %), encouraging students to ask questions during lectures (38 %) were main ways to enhance active student participation. Conclusions:The results of our study revealed a positive feedback from students which will help in making the teaching programme in pharmacology more interesting and relevant.

The Variation in Pharmacology Subject Achievement Levels Between two Assessment Methods in Undergraduate Medicine

“…Revisions and updates to learning objectives, teaching-learning materials and techniques, and evaluation at the Undergraduate (UG) and Postgraduate (PG) levels were significant turning points in the evolutionary sequence. Teaching and evaluation methodologies used for pharmacology are undergoing several improvements [23][24][25].…”