Medical Students' Understanding and Attitudes Toward Ethical Considerations in Pharmaceutical Ingredients: A Pre-Post...

Physicians lack adequate training in medication ingredient ethics despite millions of patients having religious, dietary, or medical reasons to avoid certain ingredients. Data reveal that 70% of physicians are unaware that several medications contain animal-derived ingredients. This competency gap warrants intervention in medical education.

This study aims to design, implement, and evaluate an educational session on medication ingredient ethics for medical students, and to assess its impact on perceived knowledge, competence, and attitudes regarding pharmacotherapy modification.

The intervention consisted of a 15-min pre-recorded presentation covering clinician competency gaps, controversial medication ingredients, drug information resources, and a stepwise algorithm for pharmacotherapy modification: (1) manufacturer change, (2) dosage form change, (3a) administration change, and (3b) medication change. Students then attended a faculty-led peer instruction session with case-based questions. Following the session, 59 students completed a Qualtrics survey assessing pre- and post-session perceived knowledge and competence on 5-point Likert scales, plus attitudes on 4-point Likert scales, with higher scores indicating higher perceived content knowledge, competence, or favorability. Knowledge and competence section scores were added to generate total scores. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests and paired t-tests were used for data analysis.

Total scores for knowledge and competence increased significantly from pre- to post-session (34.66 vs. 66.31, p < 0.001). All 16 individual knowledge and competence item scores showed statistically significant improvements (p < 0.001 for each). Mean attitude scores were highly favorable, ranging from 3.76 to 3.92 on a 4-point scale.

Medical students' perceived knowledge and competence in medication ingredient ethics significantly improved across all measured domains. This study supports integrating medication ingredient ethics training into medical school curricula to enhance religiously and culturally competent patient care, improve patient trust, and support medication adherence. Future studies should evaluate similar interventions across multiple institutions and assess long-term retention and clinical application of these skills.