scholarly journals A survey exploring the knowledge and perceptions of senior medical students in Nepal toward generic medicines

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 205031211666257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sudesh Gyawali ◽  
Mohamed Azmi Hassali ◽  
Archana Saha

Background: The accurate knowledge of generic medicine issues among future prescribers will enhance the prescribing of cost-effective medicines. This study aimed to explore the knowledge and perception of senior medical students about the generic medicines. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 237 senior medical students (final year students and interns) using a validated self-administered questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 20 for windows and comparison of difference was done using linear by linear association. A p value of less than 0.05 was taken as statistically significant. Results: The average age (standard deviation) of the respondents was 23.54 (1.39) years. Almost 5% of respondents correctly answered the question regarding the regulatory limits for bioequivalence. Almost two-thirds of respondents correctly agreed that generic medicine is bioequivalent to a brand-name medicine, and 79.3% and 72.5% of respondents correctly agreed that the medicine should be present in the same dosage form and same dose, respectively, as the brand-name medicines. However, almost half of the respondents had impression that brand-name medicines are required to meet higher safety standard than generic medicines. Almost 90% of respondents felt that advertisement by the drug companies would influence the use of brand-name medicine and they need more information about generic medicine. Conclusion: This study highlights the negative perception and knowledge deficit among the respondents. The students’ responses to almost all the statements were almost similar to the respondents’ academic year (final year students and interns), gender and nationality.

Author(s):  
Sanjeeva Kumar Goud Thandu ◽  
A. N. Vijay Kumar ◽  
Rahul Rajendra Kunkulol

Background: Allergic rhinitis also called hay fever; it is a very common in India. Harmless exposing substances cause an allergic reaction. Allergic rhinitis is of the two types, one is the seasonal occurred with the change of seasons, second is the perennial means any time during the year.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study to determine the cost analysis allergic rhinitis drugs used in treatment of ENT OPD in a tertiary care teaching hospital, Kamothe, Navi Mumbai. The patients were interviewed; prescriptions were analyzed number of medicines prescribed.Results: Incidence of polypharmacy two drugs per prescriptions were prescribed 140 and three drugs per prescriptions 60. In the total number of 200 prescriptions, the cost of 43 prescriptions were in between 251-300 Indian rupees and 18 prescriptions were 301-350 Indian rupees. Patient knowledge about the drug use in this study, out of 200 pts 37% of allergic rhinitis patients knew the correct dosage of the prescribed drugs while 63% were not aware.Conclusions: Majority of the participants drugs were prescribed two to three drugs, per prescription cost was high because all the drugs prescribed by brand name and no drugs were prescribed by generic name. Improvement in knowledge about generic medicines is important factor to prefer generic medicine. Reduction in cost of drug will improve compliance.


Author(s):  
Bharti . ◽  
Abhishek Kumar ◽  
Abhay Singh ◽  
Vinoth Gnana Chellaiyan D. ◽  
Neetu Singh ◽  
...  

Background: Medical biostatistics has got an important role in the modern medical science curriculum. The present study was planned to assess the knowledge and attitude among medical graduates regarding the role and utility of biostatistics in medical science.Methods: A cross-sectional study among 120 medical students of MBBS final professional of Saraswati Medical College, Lucknow was conducted by using a pre-designed, pre-tested and semi-structured questionnaire. A Chi-square test was applied to find a statistical association. A p value of <0.05 is considered to be significant.Results: Most of the students considered biostatistics is important and helps them in their UG/PG curriculum and thesis/dissertation. Fifty-seven per cent of the study participants are aware of any software used in the analysis of data. Males used at least anyone statistical software more than females (p=0.017). The majority of males (70.3%) and females (67.4%) expressed that it is difficult to understand the concepts of biostatistics. Almost all males (97.30%) and majority females (84.80%) reported that biostatistics textbooks need to be written in simple language (p value=0.026).Conclusions: The role of biostatistics among medical students is of utmost importance as research purpose and importance is increasing in all domains of medical sciences, moreover, the basics of biostatistics should play a pivotal role in the current medical curriculum.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (12) ◽  
pp. 3516-3518
Author(s):  
Nawaf Alotaibi

Background: The utilization of generic drugs in Saudi Arabia is under development. Many studies concerning generic drugs and their utilization by the consumers and promotion by health care professionals have been conducted in Saudi Arabia. Most of these studies revealed general unawareness of generic medicines among the Saudi people. Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the general perception regarding the generic medicines and branded medicines among the visitors of the Turaif general hospital. Methods: This cross‑sectional study was carried out from December 29, 2019, to January 23, 2020, at Turaif General Hospital, Turaif, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia using a questionnaire. The questionnaire was shared with the visitors (N = 527) of the hospital after their agreement, and the data were collected. The obtained data were statistically analyzed by Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS) version 16. Results: The results of this study revealed that more than 50% of the participants were unaware about generic medicines and branded medicines; preferred imported generic medicines over local generics; agreed that the imported generic medicines are of high quality, more effective, and expensive as well. However, almost 50% of the participants were not sure about the quality, efficacy, safety, price, and side effects of the branded medicine. Conclusion: It has been concluded that there is a need to provide awareness programs about branded medicine, imported generic medicine, and locally manufactured generic medicines. Keywords: Branded drugs, Generic drugs, Awareness, Turaif, Saudi Arabia.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 200-204
Author(s):  
Sana Akbar ◽  
Misbah Riaz ◽  
Lalarukh Munawar ◽  
Shazia Shakoor

Objective: The purpose of this study was to correlate the hypochondriacal concerns related to diseases with level of anxiety and depression symptoms among medical and engineering undergraduates. Study design and Setting: Cross sectional study was conducted among undergraduates of final year students of BUMDC (Bahria University Medical & Dental College) and engineering students from NUST- PNEC (NUST – Pakistan Navy Engineering College). Methodology: In this study; (99) final year medical students and (92) engineering students were recruited. In order to maintain consistency of age, students aging between 21–26 years were selected. Selected students were handed to fill the required ‘Self-administered Questionnaire’ comprising of demographic details, short health anxiety inventory, medical history and DASS (depression, anxiety and stress scale) which were completed on-site. Data was entered in SPSS version 21 and analyzed using Fisher’s exact test. P value < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Result: Out of 191 students in total from both the groups n=86 (45%) were females and n=105(55%) were males. There were 99 participants from MBBS and 92 from engineering. The participants’ ages ranged from 21-26 years with a mean= 23.95 (SD±2.29), both the cohorts belonged to approximately same age group. While assessing depression the responses were not very different for both the groups. When responses of depression scale were related to visits to psychiatrists or psychologist or psychotherapist a strong relationship was observed (p=0.012) in medical students cohort. Conclusion: The results of the study reflected comparable psychosocial strain at an elevated level among both student groups


2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Husam Eldin Elsawi Khalafalla ◽  
Mohamed Salih Mahfouz ◽  
Muath Hassan Ibrahim Najmi ◽  
Sayyaf Abdullah Mohammad Najmi ◽  
Qasem Ali Yahya Arishi ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND: Physical activity is one of the most important factors that affect human health; it reduces the chances of hypertension, coronary heart disease, stroke, diabetes, breast and colon cancer, and depression.OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study were to measure prevalence of physical activity and to determine the factors affecting the level of physical activity among medical student in Jazan University.METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among the students of medical colleges of Jazan University. A random sample of 419 was determined using most recent physical activity prevalence. A validated self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection.RESULTS: There is a high prevalence of inactivity among study participants (88.1%). Females (91.7%) were more significantly (p value=0.013) inactive than males (83.8%). The most influential barrier perceived by participants is (heavy) academic work as well as lack of places for physical activity; the latter factor being more effective in hindering female students' physical activity.CONCLUSION: Results revealed that the inactivity rate was very high among medical students. The results of this study call for a well-planned intervention at the university level for improving the level of physical activity among university students.


1970 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 141-150
Author(s):  
Mausumi Basu ◽  
Palash Das ◽  
Biman Roy ◽  
Jayanta Kumar Baruah

Background: Diseases affecting the cornea constitute a major cause of blindness. Corneal transplantation offers the potential for sight restoration. Due to non-availability of healthy cornea, many people continue to live in a dark world.Objectives: To assess the awareness and perception of undergraduate medical students towards eye donation.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among undergraduate medical students of Kolkata on August 2010 using a pre-designed, pre-tested, semi-structured, self-administered questionnaire. The data were analyzed using Epi-info software package version 6.04.Results: Almost all (98.9%) participants knew that eyes can be donated and 70.8% were aware at the time of eye collection. However, only 43.7% respondents knew whom to approach for pledging their eyes for donation; 80.7% were either willing (76.0%) or had already pledged (4.7%) to donate their eyes. Television was the major source (78.1%) of information on eye donation. Nobility was the main motivation (87.7%) and 75.5% felt the need for helping the blind. Of these medical students, 19.3% were unaware and did not pledge eye donation due to objection by family members and dislike of the idea of separating their eyes.Conclusion: The present study revealed that medical students were well aware of eye donation with a favorable attitude towards it and most of them were inclined to pledge for eye donation. The perceived reasons for not donating eyes need to be considered while creating awareness about eye donation in the community. Students can be actively involved as volunteers in eye donation campaigns and after proper training in counselling techniques, they can act as counsellors for eye donation activities.


Author(s):  
Amar Fathi Mohamed Khalifa ◽  
Yasser Nabil AlKhudairy ◽  
Adel Ahmed Algahtani ◽  
Bandar Mohammed Abduljabbar ◽  
Fahad Majed Aldawsari ◽  
...  

Background: Over-the-counter-drugs (OTC) are drugs that can be obtained by patients without a prescription from a physician. In Saudi Arabia, it has been reported that more than half of university students practiced self-medication and used OTC drugs. Methods: An institutional-based cross-sectional study, among medical and non-medical students in Riyadh. The sample size was 421, by systemic random sampling. A pre-coded pre-tested online questionnaire was used. Data was analyzed using SPSS V 23. P-value ≤ 0.05 was considered significant. Results: There was no significant relationship between what the participants were majoring in and the usage of OTC drugs (p value= 0.373). Gender also had no relation with the use of OTC (p value= 0.168). Panadol appeared as the most commonly used OTC drug 62.9% for the relief of the most commonly mentioned factor which is headache 50.12%.  Conclusion: Medical education didn’t have much of an effect on the use of OTC drugs. Moreover, professional guidance or advice was not considered most of the time for taking OTC, but the majority of respondents portrayed good behavior towards usage of OTC.


2018 ◽  
Vol 08 (04) ◽  
pp. 231-235
Author(s):  
Shireen Jawed ◽  
Sundus Tariq ◽  
Zehra Jamil ◽  
Rabiya Ali ◽  
Rehana Rehman

Objective: A health risk behavior like physical inactivity, unhealthy diet, tobacco use, drug abuse, unprotected sexual practices or harmful use of alcohol is linked with serious ailments like liver cirrhosis, hypertension, abnormal lipid profile and number of cardiovascular diseases. Our study is aimed to explore perception of students about health risk behaviors; eating routines, life style and stress handling practices and compare amongst medical students of first and second year. Subjects and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 233 female students between 1 8–25 years of age, from first two years of medical college were administered a self-structured questionnaire Response of each item was rated on five-point Likert scale. Maximum points in the scale were five and the minimum was one for each item. Mean score was obtained by adding points of all responses. Degree of health awareness was categorized into low, medium and high on the basis of mean cumulative scores. Independent sample t test was used to compare means between study groups based on academic level (Year I and II medical students) Results: The overall results of the study revealed positive health behaviors among medical students. Year I MBBS had superior acquaintance on healthy eating routines (p-value = 0.001), lifestyle patterns (p-value = 0.002), and stress handling practices (p-value < 0.001) as compared to senior class. Tendency to have anxiety attacks was more in 1st year students (p-value=0.002) while capability to withstand stress was better in senior class (p-value=0.004). Conclusion: Majority of medical students practiced positive health behaviors. These attitudes in terms of selection of life style choices; healthy food and physical activity with avoidance of health risk behaviors and supportive practices was better in Year I students.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salih Boushra Hamza ◽  
Yassin A. Abdalla ◽  
Tibyan Hassan Mustafa Alkabashi ◽  
Ahmed A. M. Mustafa ◽  
Khadija Ala Abdelmaqsud Muhmmed ◽  
...  

Abstract Background:In general, the emergence of new technologies such as the internet, social networks and providing opportunities to facilitate and improve global communications quality have created some threats, as Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD), which is an emerging psychological problem across the globe. Young defined it as “an individual’s inability to control his or her use of the internet, which eventually causes psychological, social, school, and/or work difficulties in a person’s life”. Students are among the most critical internet and social networks, particularly during the coronavirus recent pandemic. The prevalence of internet addiction and its association with academic performance among Sudanese medical students has not been discussed yet. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the effects of internet addiction on medical students’ academic performance. Methods:This study was an observational descriptive cross-sectional study conducted on medical students at Omdurman Islamic University in Sudan from 321 sample size by stratified random technique. Data were collected using a questionnaire that contains four sections; the last one is the Internet Addiction Test (IAT), a 20-item scale that measures the presence and severity of internet addiction, developed by Young. Data were analyzed using the statistical package for social science (SPSS) version 24. A P-value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results:Out of 321 medical students, 186 (57.9%) were females, and 135 (42.1%) were males, with no general differences regarding the addiction score. Social media was the leading platform for internet use purposes (88%), mean internet addiction score was 47.7; most of the respondents (55.8%) fit into the moderate-level addiction. There is an association between the duration of internet time consumption and the IAT score, with 5-6 hour/day scoring the highest (mean 50.1 ± 14.3) (P-value 0.001). There is a significant association between platforms that consume most of the participant time and IAT score, with games scoring the highest (IAT mean 56.4 ± 15) (P-value 0.001). There is an insignificant negative correlation between Internet Addiction Test (IAT) grade and CGPA (p-value 0.07).Conclusion:The mean internet addiction score is 47.7, and most of the respondents (55.8%) show moderate-level addiction. The Internet Addiction Test’s application to medical students’ sample concerning the academic performance found no significant association between Internet Addiction Test score and CGPA score.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 46
Author(s):  
B. C. Prakash ◽  
Abhiman Shetty B.

Background: Liver cirrhosis is the end result of chronic liver injury and is one of the most common cause of morbidity and mortality. Several scorings are available to predict the severity and prognosis of liver cirrhosis. This study aims to calculate APRI index, MELD score and child Pugh score in cirrhosis patients and to find the correlation between them.Methods: This is the Cross-sectional study on 100 patients confirmed with cirrhosis of liver. Cirrhosis due to alcohol, Hepatitis B and C, autoimmune, Cryptogenic, NAFLD, were included in the study. APRI Index, MELD Score and Child Pugh Score were calculated, and the correlation was obtained.Results: This study found out the relationship between APRI index, MELD Score and Child Pugh Score with significant p value. The study also showed that all the three scores were raised with patients who had complication of cirrhosis like encephalopathy, refractory ascites. Among those who had complication like grade 3 or 4 encephalopathy, APRI index had a mean value of 3.4, Child Pugh had a mean score of 13.2, and MELD had a mean score of 36.08 with standard deviation of 2.0, 1.5, 6.0 respectively.Conclusions: APRI index is an independent predictor of morbidity and mortality. The prognostic performance of all 3 was comparable, Hence APRI index can be used as an alternative scoring which is cost effective and objective method in predicting the severity and prognosis in cirrhosis of liver.


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