ASSESSMENT OF KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICE (KAP) IN PHARMACOGENOMICS AMONG MEDICAL STUDENTS IN A TEACHING HOSPITAL-A CROSS-SECTIONAL OBSERVATIONAL STUDY

Abstract

Objective: Pharmacogenomics is a field of personalized medicine where individual’s genomic profile is used to guide therapeutic prescription with the goals of increasing efficacy and decreasing toxicity and progressively moving into mainstream clinical practice. Many medical students are not familiar with implications of pharmacogenomics in therapeutic effectiveness. This survey was designed and administered to assess knowledge, attitude and practices among phase 3 MBBS students (undergraduates/UGs) and postgraduates (PGs). Methods: A Cross-sectional Observational study was conducted among Phase 3 MBBS students (n=110) and PGs (n=46). Data was collected through validated questionnaire and analyzed for their knowledge, attitudes and practices pertaining to Pharmacogenomics. SPSS version 21 and the Chi-square test was used to test the significant difference between the two groups. p value<0.05 was taken as statistically significant. Results: From the data analyzed, about 85% of undergraduates and 89% of post-graduates have adequate knowledge on Pharmacogenomics. Both the groups had positive attitude (91% and 93%) towards Pharmacogenomics. In the cluster which evaluated the practice the positive response of agree/strongly agree were 75% and 74%, respectively. There was no significant difference between the two groups for KAP on Pharmacogenomics. Conclusion: Awareness programmes need to be conducted to educate the undergraduates and PGs as attitude is more positive than their knowledge, and practice of pharmacogenomics. This helps to improve the choice of drug, keeping in mind the genetic profile of the patient to reduce the adverse effects, morbidity and mortality and to promote tailor-made personalized therapy.