www.ijbcp.com International Journal of Basic & Clinical Pharmacology | September-October 2013 | Vol 2 | Issue 5 Page 622 IJBCP International Journal of Basic & Clinical Pharmacology Print ISSN: 2319-2003 | Online ISSN: 2279-0780 Research Article Intern’s knowledge of clinical pharmacology and therapeutics at Puducherry: a cross-sectional study Nitya S*, Mangaiarkkarasi A, Meher Ali R, Maruthi Sripathi Sawadkar INTRODUCTION The important goal in teaching of undergraduate students in pharmacology is to inculcate a rational and scientific basis of therapeutics. Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (CPT) is a crucial discipline to acquire these competencies. Cultivating sound knowledge about CPT in under graduation and internship is, henceforth, compulsory. Hence the Indian government has progressively integrated CPT into undergraduate curriculum. 1 Integrated teaching method includes teaching in organ system based manner rather than didactic lectures. The benefits are widely discussed by WHO. 2 According to Medical Council of India (MCI), under “Regulations of graduate medical education”, 1997, Medicinae Baccalaureus, Baccalaureus Chirurgiae (MBBS ) is a certified study extending over four and half academic years divided into nine semesters followed by one year Compulsory Rotatory Residential Internship (CRRI). The period of four and half years is divided into three phases; phase-1 (2semesters) which includes pre- clinical subjects viz Human Anatomy, Physiology, Biochemistry and introduction to Community Medicine including Humanitics; phase -2 (3 semesters) consisting of Para-clinical / clinical subjects viz Pathology, Pharmacology, Microbiology, Forensic Medicine ABSTRACT Background: Internship is the intermediate period between under-graduation and general practice. The dexterity of health professional relies upon prescribing practices. Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics (CPT) is a crucial discipline for interns to acquire safe and rational prescription of drugs. Cultivating sound knowledge about CPT during under graduation is, henceforth, mandatory. Aims and objectives: 1. To assess whether the undergraduate CPT teaching and internship training had prepared interns adequately for safe and rational prescription. 2. To assess the awareness and reporting of adverse drug reaction (ADR). Methods: 110 interns were enrolled after obtaining informed written consent. A structured questionnaire was given to them including basic demographic information, undergraduate CPT teaching, experience of ADR and any deficiency in the under-graduate CPT teaching. Results: Response rate was 91 % in which 53 were males and 47 females. 81 considered themselves aware of CPT. 56% & 57% interns were able to prescribe drug safely and rationally respectively. Without supervision, they were confident to prescribe antacids (93%), vitamins and minerals (90%), NSAIDS (85%), antihistamines (82%), antibiotics (75%), antiemetics (62%) and antiasthmatics (52%). Only 22% had reported ADR and opined that it could lead to hospitalization (51%), prolonged hospital stay (33%), morbidity (16%) and death (21%). According to interns, the topics where more emphasis needed were ADR, dosage calculation, pediatric and emergency medicine and therapeutic drug monitoring during undergraduate CPT teaching. Conclusion: CPT teaching should be improved at undergraduate level for safe and rational prescribing including ADR monitoring, ADR reporting and dosage calculation. Keywords: Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics, Undergraduate medical education, ADR monitoring, Interns doi: 10.5455/2319-2003.ijbcp20131020 Department of Pharmacology, Sri Manakula Vinayagar Medical College and Hospital, Puducherry, India Received: 30 July 2013 Accepted: 4 August 2013 *Correspondence to: Dr. Nitya S, Email: drnityapharm@gmail.com © 2013 Nitya S et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non- Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non- commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.