Shankar P Ravi, Singh Kundan K, Piryani Rano M
Department of Clinical Pharmacology, KIST Medical College, P,O, Box 14142, Kathmandu, Nepal.
BMC Res Notes. 2012 Jan 6;5:8. doi: 10.1186/1756-0500-5-8.
Pharmaceutical promotion is widespread and can impact prescribing by health professionals. Little research has been conducted on interactions between medical students and the pharmaceutical industry. Teaching about pharmaceutical promotion is inadequate. A survey showed that many schools spend only about two hours teaching this important topic while others spend around six hours. Recently a manual on understanding and responding to promotion has been published by Health Action International (HAI) and the World Health Organization (WHO). From April to August 2011 the department of Clinical Pharmacology at KIST Medical College, Lalitpur, Nepal conducted a module on pharmaceutical promotion for second year students based on the manual. The module used active learning strategies such as brainstorming sessions, role plays and group activities. The study worked on the hypothesis that a module on pharmaceutical promotion will be effective in improving the knowledge, attitude and skills of medical students regarding pharmaceutical promotion. The impact of the module on knowledge, attitude and skills was tested using a retrospective-pre questionnaire. The scores according to gender and method of financing of medical education before and after the module were compared using appropriate non-parametric tests.
Eighty-seven of the 100 second year students (87%) participated in the study. 47 were females (54%) and 39 (44.83%) were males and one did not state the gender. Seventy-seven students (88.5%) were self-financing while 9 were scholarship students. The median knowledge, attitude and skills score before the module were 9, 13 and 6 respectively while the overall score was 28. The scores increased significantly to 16, 15 and 14 respectively after the module while the overall score increased to 45. The median attitude scores and total scores were significantly higher among females both before and after the module. The scores did not vary with method of financing of medical education. All scores increased significantly at the end of the module.
The nine hour module held over a period of four months was effective in improving respondents' knowledge, attitudes and skills about pharmaceutical promotion. The module was not resource intensive and used resources already available in the institution. Similar modules can be considered in other medical and health profession schools in Nepal, South Asia and other developing countries.
药品促销十分普遍，可能会影响医疗专业人员的处方行为。关于医学生与制药行业之间互动的研究很少。关于药品促销的教学也不够充分。一项调查显示，许多学校在这个重要主题上仅花费约两小时进行教学，而其他学校则花费约六小时。最近，国际卫生行动组织（HAI）和世界卫生组织（WHO）出版了一本关于理解和应对促销的手册。2011年4月至8月，尼泊尔拉利特布尔基斯特医学院临床药理学系根据该手册为二年级学生开展了一个药品促销模块。该模块采用了头脑风暴会议、角色扮演和小组活动等主动学习策略。该研究基于这样一个假设：一个关于药品促销的模块将有效地提高医学生在药品促销方面的知识、态度和技能。使用回顾性预调查问卷测试该模块对知识、态度和技能的影响。使用适当的非参数检验比较了模块前后按性别和医学教育资助方式划分的分数。
100名二年级学生中有87名（87%）参与了该研究。47名是女性（54%），39名（44.83%）是男性，1名未说明性别。77名学生（88.5%）是自费，9名是奖学金学生。模块前知识、态度和技能的中位数分数分别为9、13和6，而总分是28。模块后分数分别显著提高到16、15和14，而总分提高到45。模块前后女性的态度中位数分数和总分均显著更高。分数不因医学教育资助方式而异。模块结束时所有分数均显著提高。
为期四个月、时长九小时的模块有效地提高了受访者对药品促销的知识、态度和技能。该模块不需要大量资源，利用了机构现有的资源。尼泊尔、南亚和其他发展中国家的其他医学和卫生专业学校可以考虑开展类似的模块。
