Teaching medical students about over-the-counter medications

Over-the-counter (OTC) medications account for over half of US drug expenses but have received little attention in medical school education. This pilot study evaluated student attitudes and knowledge in connection with a new curriculum in an ambulatory teaching clinic.

Learning objectives were developed for six categories of OTC medications and students taught each other under the direction of a clinical pharmacist and family physician. Learning was undertaken in small groups and a site visit to a pharmacy was included. A 25-question test of knowledge was administered before and 6 months after the project, and student attitudes were assessed.

The sessions were taught as part of a longitudinal family medicine clerkship at an ambulatory care teaching clinic, Rockford, Illinois, USA.

Twenty third-year medical students took the pre-test and attended the educational sessions; 19 completed the post-test and 16 completed the attitudinal survey.

The mean pre-test score of 49% improved to 67% on the post-test (p<0.001). On the survey, 94% found the material useful and 88% liked the small group learning, but only 60% felt the pharmacy trip was worthwhile.

In this study, medical students found teaching about OTC medications to be useful and showed significant improvement on a fund of knowledge test.