RELATION OF EXAMINATION PERFORMANCE AND CLASS ATTENDANCE OF MBBS STUDENTS IN PHARMACOLOGY - A RETROSPECTIVE STUDY

Introduction: Students attendance is considered as an important factor in the academic performance of medical students. Student attendance is an integral part of professional development and, from a regulatory perspective, considered evidence of professionalism.Aim of the undergraduate medical education is to produce competent doctors with adequate medical knowledge, affective attitude for the patients and proper clinical skills for practice Medical education demands high attendance for good understanding and grasps over the subject Aim: To study the relationship between student attendance and their performance in theory examination. Study design: A retrospective study was conducted among Second year MBBS pharmacology students. Student classroom (theory) attendance was compared with their marks secured in the internal assessment conducted by the pharmacology department. Materials and method: The second year MBBS students who attended pharmacology internal assessment were included in the study. The attendance of a total of 145 students was compared with their internal assessment marks. Statistical analysis was performed using ANOVA. Results: Among 145 students more number of students attendance lied between 61-70 percent.Only 2 of them got more than 90 percent attendance, in this one got below 50 percent marks and6 of them got less than 50 percent in both marks and attendance. Discussion: This study clearly demonstrated that the higher the percentage of attendance lesser is the chance of failure in theory internal assessment (P value is 0.002). It shows attending the theory lectures is significant to perform in the examinations.