Undergraduate medical students’ perceptions regarding personal drug selection exercise

Background: Right drug for the right patient in the right dose for the right duration is the aim of rational prescribing. The foundation for rational prescribing can be laid if prescribing doctors are sensitized to this concept during undergraduate studies. The knowledge of personal drug (P-drug) selection process is an important step towards rational prescribing.Objectives: This study was done to analyse the students’ opinions and the difficulties they faced in the process of P-drug selection.Materials and methods: In first phase of this study, fifth semester students of MBBS course were taught the process of selecting a P-drug in pharmacology practical classes. In second phase, students were given questionnaire to put forth their views on selection process of P-drug. The quantitative data was expressed as median and interquartile range (IQR). Results: Majority of the students were in favor of introducing the process of selection of P-drug in undergraduate pharmacology curriculum [4 (4-5), scale 1-5]. The students were of the opinion that such exercise will give in-depth knowledge of various groups of drugs used and highlight the intragroup differences. Students’ also opined that P-drug exercise also enable them to remember various aspects of the drugs for long period. Students also felt that the P-drug selection process will help them to understand how drug selection been done for the treatment of various disease conditions. Conclusion: P- drug selection exercise helps students to understand the differences between various drugs used for the treatment of one disease condition. This may serve as a strong foundation for developing rational prescribing skills.