Pharmacotherapy and drug prescription: Do dental scholars have the proper knowledge?

Abstract

Background Despite attending pharmacotherapy courses around half of the program, a large number of dental scholars still have doubts about how to prescribe drugs during supervised final-year practice internships. This cross-sectional and descriptive survey study aimed to evaluate the level of pharmacology knowledge of dental scholars attending different undergraduate terms at two dental schools. Methods After ethical approval and informed consent form signing, 128 dental scholars of the sixth (who recently attended the pharmacotherapy or equivalent course) or tenth undergraduate term anonymously answered a previously validated multiple-choice questionnaire composed of 4 questions on drug prescription regulation and 10 questions on pharmacological clinical cases. The level of knowledge of the dental scholars was categorized (poor, fair good, or excellent) and the frequencies of correct answers were compared by using the chi-square tests (p < 0.05). Results The percentages of correct answers from academics at different undergraduate terms within the same dental school were not significantly different (p = 0.938). In both dental schools, the majority of academics presented poor and fair knowledge levels. Overall, academics from dental school B provided a significantly greater percentage of correct answers than did those from dental school A (p = 0.025). Questions regarding drug prescription for medical emergencies and adequate concentrations of fluorides presented the lowest average percentages of correct answers (7.8% and 13.3%, respectively). Conclusions The pharmacotherapy and drug prescription knowledge level of academics from the two dental schools were predominantly poor and fair.