In response to the increasing amount of drug information, the teaching strategy of Pharmacotherapeutics was changed from Teacher-based Classroom Lecture to Small Group Discussion ( SGD ) revolving around ten to twelve of the most prevalent diseases in the country.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the effect of small group discussion on the performance of Pharmacology students by 1) Comparing the drug choices of students during Medical Internship with those of Pharmacology teachers for five selected clinical conditions 2) Describing the attitudes of Medical Students while in Medical Clerkship towards SGD 3) Determining areas of disagreements in prescribing choices between Clinical Consultants and Pharmacologists.

METHODS: Medical Interns and their pharmacology teachers were concurrently administered the same questionnaire testing their drug choices for five clinical conditions. Attitudes of Medical Interns during their Clinical clerkship towards SGD was determined using their reflection papers. A survey was also conducted among interns to determine which diseases showed more frequent disagreements in prescribing between clinical consultants and pharmacologists.

RESULTS: Ninety one medical interns participated in the study. Agreement on the choice of drugs was generally low ( 23%-44% ) except for Exercise-induced Asthma (89%). Majority of 147 reflection papers by clinical clerks expressed positive attitude towards SGD as a learning tool for Pharmacotherapeutics. Medical interns also perceived that drug choices of their clinical consultants/residents agree with what they were taught in Pharmacology 70% of the time. But it was actually 43% low when they were given five clinical cases to virtually treat. It is presumed that their drug choices only reflected their actual prescribing practice while under the supervision of their Residents/ Consultants. Most disagreements were observed in the treatment of Hypertension and UTI.

CONCLUSIONS: There was poor retention of knowledge about drug choices from undergraduate Pharmacology especially for eradication of H. pylori and recurrent UTI at 23% and 28%, respectively. Forty six percent of medical interns concur that Small Group Discussion is an acceptable strategy for case -based learning. It likewise positively influenced their prescribing decisions as Medical Interns.