Postgraduate Pharmacology Education in India: Broadening the Horizons

7/30/2019 Postgraduate Pharmacology Education in India: Broadening the Horizons

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Postgraduate Pharmacology

Education in India:

Broadening the Horizons

Dr. Ananya ChakrabortyAssistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology

Vydehi Institute of Medical Sciences, Whitefield,

Bangalore, India-560066


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Outline

Evolution

Career opportunities

Traditional curriculum Re-look with emphasis on

Recent advances in drug related research

Training faculty and students Regular assessments

Examination system


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Science of Pharmacology

Developed in the late nineteenth and

twentieth centuries when scientists

Began to study naturally occurring drugs e.g.

digitalis (foxglove), morphine (poppy)

Basic principles of pharmacology were

established with studies on such substances

which had been in use for centuries Some of these drugs are still in use today,

but the majority are now synthetic

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Evolution: Traditional to

Targeted Drug DiscoveryGrowth in biochemistry, molecular biology, biotechnology

TraditionalDrug

Discovery

Targeted Drug Discovery
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Why choose Pharmacology?

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Career Opportunities

Academic position

Research position

Principal investigator

Clinical research

BA/BE studies

Medical advisor

Medical content manager

Pharmacovigilance expert

Pharmacology: Career

Opportunities
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Traditional Pharmacology

Curriculum: Objectives

Basic and general pharmacology

Animal experimentation including drug

screening and bioassays Clinical pharmacology and

therapeutics

Research and teaching methodology Identify a problem, formulate a hypothesis

Design a study protocol


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Curriculum: Objectivescont.

Literature search and review

Bioethics Statistics

Drug prescription and utilization

Drug related adverse effects Cost-effectiveness of drugs


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Curriculum: BottleneckLearning basic and general pharmacology

Theory oriented

Monotonous

Lacks

Bed side teaching

Problem based

approach

Provides more emphasis on knowledge rather

than acquisition of skills and attitudes

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http://www.sdc.uwo.ca/learning/images/writing.jpg


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Curriculum: BottleneckAnimal experimentation

CPCSEA

Lack of

advanced

laboratory

facilities

Preference:

Clinical study

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Traditional Curriculum:

Bottleneckcont. Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics

Lack of cooperation from clinical side

Lack of hands on experience

Research and teaching methodology

Continuous learning process, can not be

learnt by attending a few hours of lecture

E.g. Medical writing industry: 6 weeks training

with lot of assignments followed by review

and assessment

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Traditional Curriculum:

Bottleneckcont. Bioethics

Not taught elaborately

Does not include problem based aspects and

approaches in research

Statistics

Not taught with research designs and

examples

Does not include training in statistical and

clinical trial softwares

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Challenges for Students

Vast, theory oriented curriculum

Examination pattern: Remember

everything studied over three years

Practical goals:

To train themselves in the recent advances

To attain hands on experience on various

aspects of pharmacology

To acquire employable expertise


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Need of the day

Modification of curriculum based on recentadvances in drug discovery and research

Exposure and training

Molecular biology techniques, calculus

Advanced animal models and screeningtechniques

Computer simulated animal experiments Use of statistical and clinical trial software

Use of recent tools and techniques


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Academic Institutions in India

Most of the institutions are not equipped

with the required infrastructure

Very few faculty members are trained in

the recent advances


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Ways Out!!!

Short-term stints for faculty and studentsin relevant institutions and industry

Online training or through CME

Online forums : Exchange of knowledgee.g. Indpharm

Online thesis repository: Continuation of

promising work across different institutes


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Ways Outcont.

Faculty and students: Encouraged toattend workshops and training programs

Workshops and training programs Interactive, hands on experience

Problem based case studies

Assessments and evaluation IPSCON: Platform to propose workshops


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Updating the curriculum

GMP, GLP, GCP regulatory affairs

Hands on experience

Clinical research

If infrastructure or confidentiality does not permitdirect exposure to clinical studies, they could betrained through mock studies

Posting in hospital pharmacy

Short term projects in pharmacovigilance andpharmacoeconomics

Communication skills


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Updating the curriculum : Credit

based modular approach

Credit points: Training or exposure stint

Credit points: A pre-requisite for exam

E.g. Suppose 50 credits are required to

qualify for the final exam 20 credits for thesis work, 10 credits for seminars

and journal reviews, 10 credits for UG teaching

Remaining credits could be earned through

trainings: 5 credits for training in basicpharmacology research, 5 credits for training inclinical research including ADRs


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Evaluation System

Written examination: Problem based

Practical evaluation: Based on research

and presentation skills

Defend thesis: Presence of all examiners

where at least one examiner should be

chosen from a national panel


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Conclusion

Updating the curriculum, introducing

credits, or changing examination pattern

will not necessarily ensure quality PG

teaching in the institutions

Learning: Academic freedom, good

infrastructure, a collaborative and positive

research atmosphere


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Conclusioncontd.

Where the mind is without fear and

the head is held high

How do we ensure that?


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PG Pharmacology Education:

Opinion of pharmacologists Y-axis: % responses

X-axis: Questionnaire Q1: Provides emphasis only

on only knowledge

Q2: Research and teachingmethodology are not learnt

through lectures

Q3: Most of the Indian

Institutions are not equipped

with the required infrastructure

Q4: Faculty members are not

trained in the recent

advances

Q5: Curriculum needs re-look

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0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5

http://www.surveymethods.com/EndUser.aspx?7D4B35267C39202A7C3C


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Thank You

Postgraduate Pharmacology Education in India: Broadening the Horizons

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