Pharmacology Quiz As a Competency Based Learning Tool for Undergraduates: Assessment of Students’ Attitude and Feedback

Apart from knowledge and skills, attitudes also shape the overall competency of a medical graduate. Quiz based learning is a refreshing way of implementing competency based exercises in Pharmacology. To assess the attitude of second year MBBS students and obtain feedback about pharmacology quiz. Fifty-four second year MBBS students were included in the study and divided into 6 groups of 9 each. A well-designed questionnaire with ten statements was used to assess the attitude of the students, responses were recorded as five point Likert scale and scored on a scale of 1 to 5 (strongly agree:5, agree:4, neutral:3, disagree:2 and strongly disagree:1). Mean score for each statement was graded (mean score >3: positive attitude, score =3: neutral; score<3: negative). The students had an overall positive attitude towards the quiz (mean attitude scores for all the statements was >3). They found quiz interesting (mean score: 4.71 ±0.48), allowed for healthy competition and teamwork (mean score: 4.58 ±0.60), as a refreshing way of learning and breaks the monotony (mean score: 4.47±0.79), improved student-teacher interaction (mean score: 4.48±0.69). Students’ feedback showed (indicated as strongly agree/agree: n, %): rounds in the quiz were interesting (52, 96%), allowed for fair chance of participation for all (45, 83%), improved peer-interaction (50,92%), helpful for examinations (52,95%) especially for viva-voce (34,63%). Crossword (21, 38%), rapid fire (10, 21%), identification of Adverse drug reactions (9, 16%) and jigsaw puzzle (5, 9%) were the favorite rounds for the students. Students had a positive attitude and feedback was encouraging. Quiz improves peer interaction, decision-making, confidence, analytical skills, working under pressure and effective communication, regular quiz exercises and assessments can be an effective competency based learning tool for medical undergraduates.