Examining and improving senior pharmacy students’ knowledge of clinically critical drug-drug interactions

Abstract

Background: Drug-drug interactions (DDIs) are essential issues health professionals should consider. In order to fulfil DDI management duties, knowledge about this subject is essential. However, according to the literature, health professionals’ knowledge of DDIs is not at a sufficient level. Objectives: This study aims to examine and improve the knowledge of senior pharmacy students on DDIs. Method: A knowledge assessment tool (KAT) containing 20 DDI cases was distributed to 36 randomly selected-year pharmacy students at Van Yüzüncü Yıl University before and after completing a DDI educational intervention. Result: Senior pharmacy students performed significantly better on the KAT applied following an educational intervention. The proportion of participants correctly identifying DDIs for drug pairs following educational intervention was statistically improved in five pairs at p<0.001 and five pairs at p<0.05. Conclusion: The educational intervention increases the short-term knowledge level of the students on DDIs.