A SURVEY BASED STUDY TO ASSESS KNOWLEDGE ON FOOD DRUG INTERACTIONS AMONG PHARMACY STUDENTS

Knowledge on food drug interactions is necessary to obtain complete therapeutic effect from the medication. Due to lack of awareness they are neglected though interactions may lead to undesired effects. A prospective questionnaire study comprising of 12 questions, each question have both right and wrong options was conducted among pharmacy students to assess their awareness about food drug interactions. The questionnaire was formatted in a simple and easy manner for the understanding of students. These forms are prepared in Google forms and circulated through whatsapp social media and the responses were collected. Total of 215 students participated in the study out of which 43.6% are males and 50.9% are females. Responses were evaluated using Microsoft excel. Most of the students are aware that alcohol is the major drink that causes interactions when taken along with the medication. Almost all the students are aware that milk should not be consumed with tetracyclines. The study also found that students had a limited awareness on food drug interactions. The study findings support the need for the students to update their knowledge through additional training and frequent patient counseling to improve therapeutic efficacy, drug compliance and safety of patients. Key words: Awareness, Food drug interactions, pharmacy students, questionnaire, therapeutic efficacy