title: Effect of information, education and communication intervention on awareness about rational pharmacy practice in pharmacy students.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There is a growing indifference among the pharmacy practitioners towards their duty as information providers to the patients. The patients do not always get enough desired information about proper use of medicines from the prescribers also. This contributes to improper use of medicines by the patients.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To bring about awareness about rational pharmacy practice in pharmacy students for better service to the patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  The final year students of Bachelor of Pharmacy (B. Pharm) from four colleges of Nagpur were enrolled for the study after informed consent. Their base knowledge was assessed through a written test which comprised of 27 objective questions related to rational pharmacy practice. This was followed by a series of seven articles on rational medicine use, published in leading local English news daily. The participants were reminded to read them on the day of publication of each article. As a backup, the articles were displayed on the notice board of respective colleges. Second intervention was a half day interactive session where series of six lectures were delivered to the participants on the right and wrong approaches in pharmacy practice. Posters about the do's and dont's of rational pharmacy practice were also displayed at the venue. The session was followed by a repeat test using the same pre-test to assess the change. Pre and post intervention data was compared using Fisher's Exact test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  It was observed that the intervention did bring about a positive change in the attitude and knowledge of the final year Pharmacy students about rational pharmacy practice.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The role of a pharmacist in health care provision is usually overlooked in India. Hence there is strong need for reinforcement in final year B. Pharm when most of the students go in for community service. Such interventions will be helpful in bringing about a positive change towards rational practice of pharmacy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study showed that a properly timed and meticulously implemented intervention brings about a positive change in the attitude and knowledge of pharmacy students.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Government Medical College, Nagpur - 440 003, India.
authors.forename: Kunda
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gharpure
authors.forename: Vijay
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Thawani
authors.forename: Smita
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sontakke
authors.forename: Kiran
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chaudhari
authors.forename: Mangesh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bankar
authors.forename: Rajendra
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Diwe