Opinion of stakeholders on existing curriculum for postgraduate (MD) course in Pharmacology: A survey

To survey the opinion about various curricular components of Doctor of Medicine (MD) pharmacology curriculum in India by stakeholders, including faculty and students.

An online survey was done to evaluate the various curricular components of MD pharmacology curriculum being used in India. A total of 393 respondents including faculty, MD students, and other stakeholders completed the survey. The survey was developed using SurveyMonkey platform and link to survey was E-mailed to stakeholders. The results were expressed as percentages.

There was a balanced representation of respondents from various designations, teaching experience, regions, and age groups. Most of the respondents (83%) were aware of the MD pharmacology curriculum. However, they reported that it is more inclined to knowledge domain. About half of respondents (53%) said that animal experiments are being used. The most common teaching methods mentioned are seminars (98.5%), journal clubs (95%), and practical exercises by postgraduates (73%), but there is less use of newer methods (25%) in theory and less of clinical pharmacology exercise (39%) in practical classes. The log books are maintained but not assessed regularly. Internal assessment is sparingly used.

The MD pharmacology curriculum needs to be made uniform at the national level and updated to include the newer methods in teaching-learning and assessment. There should be sharing of newer methods at a common platform implemented at the national level.