Medicine Prescription Trends and Knowledge Related to Prescriptions among Medical Students of Faisalabad

Abstract

Objectives: To assess the knowledge and attitude of medical students regarding prescription of medicine

Study Design: Cross Sectional study.

Place and Duration of Study: This study was conducted at the Department of Community Medicine, University Medical & Dental College, Faisalabad December 2015 to July 2016

Materials and Methods: It was a cross-sectional study conducted at Department of Community Medicine University Medical & Dental College, Faisalabad, from December 2015 to July 2016. Study participants were approached through simple random sampling and sample size was 384 medical students of medical colleges of Faisalabad. After obtaining consent from institutional review board, a structured questionnaire was used for data collection.

Results: Out of 384 medical students in the study, 83% were male and 69% were from final year. Medicines prescribed by the medical students were for headache (32.8%) followed by generalized pain (31.3%). Most common medicines prescribed were painkillers (32%) and antibiotics (28.9%). A highly significant difference was observed between prescription trends between male and female students, male students (67.5%) were more likely to prescribe medicines as compared to female students (p=0.000).

Conclusion: The knowledge about medicine prescription was mainly gained during lectures and from prescription books. Likelihood of prescribing medicines was observed in majority of students and majority felt confident in prescribing medicines. This indicates that practice of giving medicine prescription is highly prevalent in medical students.