Drug prescription awareness among the 3 rd year and final year dental students: A cross-sectional survey

Introduction: Prescribing is the act of indicating one or more drugs to be administered to or taken by the patient, its dosage, and the duration of the treatment. It is a dynamic and individualized clinical process. Prescription has unique characteristics, but it may be inclined by cultural, social, economic and promotional factors. Aim: The aim was to evaluate the knowledge of drug prescription in 3 rd year and final year students at a private dental college. Methodology: A semi-structured questionnaire was used to 150 male and female, 3 rd year and 4 th year students of a private dental college from April 2014 to May 2014. The questionnaire consisted of 10 open-ended questions. Results: The main reason for prescribing medication was pain. The most commonly used nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs were diclofenac, followed by paracetamol and ketorolac. The most extensively prescribed antibiotics were amoxicillin. The main reasons for errors done by students were limited knowledge about correct posology of drugs. Students get their information for drug prescription mainly from professors, followed by classmates and pharmacology course. Most of the students were unaware about the Guide to Good Prescribing by World Health Organization. About 56.67% students had knowledge about dose of the drug prescribed. Conclusion: Pain was found to be the most significant reason for drug prescription. Amoxicillin was the most widely used antibiotic. Lack of knowledge about the posology of drug was the main reason for the error done by students.