A comparative mixed method study of flipped class room and traditional lecture for teaching rational drug prescription among undergraduates in Pharmacology.

Rational drug prescription is a very important competency an Indian Medical Graduate (IMG) should acquire during his undergraduate training. Irrational prescriptions lead to drug resistance, adverse drug reactions (ADRs) and drug interactions. This was a prospective interventional mixed - method study where students were pseudo-randomised to either Traditional Lecture or Flipped Classroom based on the date of their academic session. For the study purpose, 250 phase 2 MBBS students in Pharmacology were divided into two groups. Allocation into 2 groups was done by lot method one week before the scheduled class so that the online study materials could be sent to the students belonging to the flipped classroom method in the form of case scenarios and videos. A total of 198 students participated in the study with 103 in the TL group and 95 in the FC group. Acquisition of higher order cognitive skills like application and analysis was assessed by measuring an academic score obtained from a series of exercises on rational prescription in a given clinical scenario. The academic score of the TL group (Mean - 5.99, SD-2.34) vs FC (Mean-5.59, SD-1.39) group thus obtained was not statistically significant p > 0.05, Effect size-0.08. The perception of students towards TL and FC assessed with the help of a questionnaire showed a statistically significant difference in favour of FC for the perceptions in the ability to improve academic score, generate peer interaction, facilitate team work and improve teacher-student interaction.