ABSTRACT
Background: Fixed-dose combinations (FDCs) were brought into the market with the intent of providing benefits primarily to patients and physicians. Nevertheless, despite their multiple advantages, they have their own set of drawbacks, especially regarding irrational FDCs. If physicians continue to prescribe them, prohibiting their sale would become all the more challenging. This cross-sectional survey study was planned to comprehend the level of knowledge, attitude and practice of physicians regarding such FDCs at a tertiary care teaching institute of western Uttar Pradesh, India. Methodology: A pre-validated questionnaire was communicated electronically to all the attending physicians. For data analysis, descriptive statistics were applied and a χ2 test was performed for inter-group comparison. Results: Amongst the 108 respondents, participation was almost comparable from both medical and surgical branches, with most participants being junior residents (58%). Even with sound knowledge of FDCs, only 46.30% of them were aware of banned FDCs. Similarly, only 6.48% could correctly identify the disadvantages associated with the use of FDCs, and 33.18% could correctly recognize irrational FDCs. This finding was consistently reflected in their attitude and practice and only 15.74% of respondents cross-referenced FDCs with the available literature. Furthermore, despite 88.89% of respondents checking for rationality of FDCs before prescribing them, a compendium of irrational FDCs is routinely prescribed. Conclusion: To amend these shortcomings in prescribing of irrational FDCs, some recommendations are proposed by the authors herein.
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Didactic lectures lead to lack of attention and limited independent thinking with limited self-assessment, crossword puzzles having shown promising results and substantial usability. A thorough literature search showed that most of the studies done were on the introduction of crosswords as a tool of assessment in either medical or allied health sciences; hence, we planned this study to know the acceptability of crossword puzzles as a method of assessment. METHODS: The subjects of this cross-sectional study to assess the acceptability of crossword puzzles were 5th semester students of the second professional MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery). The study was conducted for three consecutive batches over a period of three months at the same time of the year from 2018 to 2020. The students had appeared for formative assessment and gave written informed consent. The crossword puzzles were given to the students, being followed by an anonymous feedback questionnaire and formative examination one week later. The feedback questionnaire was analyzed for coefficient of reliability by Cronbach's Alpha, giving an internal consistency of 0.841. RESULTS: A total of 425 students participated in the study. The crossword puzzles had an average percentage score of 62.7% across all the three years, which was significantly higher (p<0.05), as compared to the formative examination score of 45.2%. The same set of students appeared for both types of evaluation and the results were compared. The feedback given was that majority of the students agreed that crosswords enhanced their knowledge of drugs, promoted active learning, and helped in remembering the topic. CONCLUSION: Crossword puzzles were an acceptable and effective tool for assessment as they gave better results and provided better understanding in comparison to the conventional formative assessment as the feedback questionnaire showed. Most students agreed that the crosswords enhanced their knowledge of drugs, promoted active learning and helped in remembering the topic.