title: Prescribing knowledge in the light of undergraduate clinical pharmacology and therapeutics teaching in India: views of first-year postgraduate students.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The study aimed to review the prescribing knowledge of first-year postgraduate doctors in a medical college in India, using the principles of good prescribing, to suggest strategies to improve rational prescribing, and to recommend what curriculum planners can do to accomplish this objective.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty first-year postgraduate doctors were asked to fill in a structured questionnaire that sought information regarding their undergraduate training in clinical pharmacology and therapeutics, prescribing habits, and commonly consulted drug information sources. Also, the questionnaire assessed any perceived deficiencies in their undergraduate clinical pharmacology teaching and sought feedback regarding improvement in the teaching.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eighty-eight percent of residents said that they were taught prescription writing in undergraduate pharmacology teaching; 48% of residents rated their prescribing knowledge at graduation as average, 28% good, 4% excellent, 14% poor, and 4% very poor; 58% felt that their undergraduate training did not prepare them to prescribe safely, and 62% felt that their training did not prepare them to prescribe rationally. Fifty-eight percent of residents felt that they had some specific problems with writing a prescription during their internship training, while 92% thought that undergraduate teaching should be improved. Their suggestions for improving teaching methods were recorded.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study concludes that efforts are needed to develop a curriculum that encompasses important aspects of clinical pharmacology and therapeutics along with incorporation of the useful suggestions given by the residents.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Mahatma Gandhi Medical College, Jaipur.
authors.forename: Prerna
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Upadhyaya
authors.forename: Vikas
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Seth
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.forename: Mushtaq
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ahmed
authors.forename: Vijay Vasant
authors.initials: VV
authors.lastname: Moghe
authors.forename: Zafar Yab
authors.initials: ZY
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.forename: Vinay Kumar
authors.initials: VK
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.forename: Shipra Vikram
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Jain
authors.forename: Utkarsh
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Soni
authors.forename: Manohar
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bhatia
authors.forename: Kumar
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Abhijit
authors.forename: Jaswant
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Goyal
keywords: clinical pharmacology and therapeutics; medical education; pharmacoeconomics; pharmacovigilance; prescription writing; undergraduate medical curriculum