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Opinion of stakeholders on existing

curriculum for postgraduate (MD)
course in Pharmacology: A survey
Dinesh K. Badyal, Sujit R. Daniel1

Website:
www.ijponline.com
DOI:
10.4103/0253-7613.193316

Abstract:
Objectives: To survey the opinion about various curricular components of Doctor of Medicine(MD) pharmacology
curriculum in India by stakeholders, including faculty and students.
Materials and Methods: An online survey was done to evaluate the various curricular components of MD
pharmacology curriculum being used in India. Atotal of 393 respondents including faculty, MD students, and
other stakeholders completed the survey. The survey was developed using SurveyMonkey platform and link to
survey was Emailed to stakeholders. The results were expressed as percentages.
Results: There was a balanced representation of respondents from various designations, teaching experience,
regions, and age groups. Most of the respondents(83%) were aware of the MD pharmacology curriculum. However,
they reported that it is more inclined to knowledge domain. About half of respondents(53%) said that animal
experiments are being used. The most common teaching methods mentioned are seminars(98.5%), journal
clubs(95%), and practical exercises by postgraduates(73%), but there is less use of newer methods(25%) in
theory and less of clinical pharmacology exercise(39%) in practical classes. The log books are maintained but
not assessed regularly. Internal assessment is sparingly used.
Conclusion: The MD pharmacology curriculum needs to be made uniform at the national level and updated to
include the newer methods in teachinglearning and assessment. There should be sharing of newer methods at
a common platform implemented at the national level.
Key words:
Curriculum, Doctor of Medicine, pharmacology, stakeholders, survey
Key message:
Emerging trends in pharmacology and therapeutics and the changing career avenues for pharmacologists brings
forth a need for uniformity in curricular components of M.D. (Pharmacology) course in India. The uniformity in
the curriculum is currently lacking and needs to be revamped to suit the contemporary needs.

T
Department of
Pharmacology,
Christian Medical
College and Hospital,
Ludhiana, Punjab,
1
Department of
Pharmacology,
Dr.SM CSI Medical
College and Hospital,
Thiruvananthapuram,
Kerala, India
Address for
correspondence:
Dr.Dinesh K. Badyal,
Email:dineshbadyal@
gmail.com
Submission: 30082016
Accepted: 05102016

he Medical Council of India(MCI) provides

very broad guidelines for postgraduate(PG)
curriculum in general.[1] There is no syllabus or
other details given subject wise. These guidelines
are good in a sense that it provides flexibility
to the institutes/universities to design Doctor
of Medicine (MD) pharmacology course as per
regional needs and as per infrastructure available
in their regions. However, in spite of this flexibility,
only a few universities have framed their
curriculum/syllabus for MD in Pharmacology
course.[2] Most of these curricula emphasize a lot
on the traditional set of knowledgebased learning
and not on relevant competency/skillbased
learning. None of these discuss affective domain
in detail. Some curriculum just gives objectives
and few teachinglearning methods while others
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2016 Indian Journal of Pharmacology Published by Wolters Kluwer - Medknow

describe a long list under each category.[37] Most

of these curricula have extensive list of items in
practical exercises. There is a huge variability in
these curricula. The variability in these curricula
adds an element of nonuniformity in MD course.
Hence, as of present, there is no standard defined
curriculum for the MD pharmacology course at
the national level.
The various stakeholders in MD pharmacology
curriculum have raised their concerns related
to its relevance in the present day scenario as
well as its uniformity. The stakeholders include
students, teachers, universities, employers,
and even regulatory bodies. The emerging
trends in the field of pharmacology have
opened up exciting career opportunities for

How to cite this article: Badyal DK, Daniel SR.

Opinion of stakeholders on existing curriculum for
postgraduate (MD) course in Pharmacology: A survey.
Indian J Pharmacol 2016;48:S19-24.
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Badyal and Daniel: Survey of curriculum for MD Pharmacology

young medical pharmacologists in various fields such as

academics, pharmaceutical industries, scientific writing, clinical
research organizations, and regulatory bodies.[812] Hence, the
milliondollar question which crops up is that Are our MD
training programs adequate for the students, satisfying their
future career/job needs?
There have been few studies in India on MD curriculum in
pharmacology; however, these studies used only a part of
curricula with a limited number of stakeholders. These studies
do report that existing MD curriculum in pharmacology
in India has not kept pace with the recent needs and
developments. The training needs of MD pharmacology course
need to be standardized and made uniform at all the places.
[810]
It prompts us to share the fallacies of what these students
are being taught versus what they are expected to know in
their future job profiles. Just think about where major time of
students and teachers is invested in teachinglearning activities
in MD pharmacology course. Most time is spent in practical
exercises related to experimental pharmacology, calculation in
kinetics, statistical calculations, and knowledgebased items
such as seminars/journal clubs. One survey pointed out that
96.6% of the participants have never used their knowledge of
bioassay during their 10years of postMD career whether in
pharmaceutical industry or in academics.[11] Now think about
the future job profiles of these students. Majority of the students
join industry where they need to be proficient in clinical trials.
Anumber of them join academics too. Are we inculcating skills
for teaching and conduct of clinical trial in these students? In
fact, the question should be reframed as, Are we investing
major time in training these students in relevant skills such
as teaching skills and skill in conduct of clinical trials? If the
answer is yes, then we are right on the track, otherwise we
need to rethink our strategies and curriculum.
The increasing restrictions on the use of animals, wide variation
in curriculum between instituions and neglect of topics such as
clinical trial methodology, teaching skills in MD pharmacology
curriculum led us to design this study to collect and evaluate
the information through a questionnaire on MD pharmacology
curriculum including objectives, teachinglearning methods,
and assessment strategies being used in various medical
colleges in India.

and MD pharmacology students in 1styear were excluded

from the study.
The questionnaire was prepared based on MCI broader
guidelines and the essential components of curriculum.[1,2]
A brainstorming session with the faculty and the PGs of the
department of pharmacology was conducted to revise it. The
questionnaire included questions related to all components of
the curriculum, i.e.,objectives, teachinglearning materials/
methods, and assessment. The teachinglearning methods
include questions from all three domains of learning such
as cognitive, psychomotor, and affective domains. Similarly,
assessment was also asked in relation to these domains.
The questionnaire was pilot tested in five institutions involving
ten faculty and ten PGs. The final questionnaire was made
available through SurveyMonkey online platform. The
SurveyMonkey online platform is a very useful tool for creating
survey and getting responses online. We have being using it for
medical education workshops and training program surveys.
The use of SurveyMonkey in subjectrelated survey at national
level made the process easier in designing survey, validating
survey, sharing link, and getting responses. The online link was
Emailed to the faculty and PGs of Pharmacology Departments
of Medical Colleges as well as to other stakeholders. The Email
addresses were obtained from the respective departments from
their websites as well as from the MCI website. We also posted
a letter about the questionnaire to all medical colleges by post,
and five reminders were given to all nonresponders. The study
was approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee, and we
also obtained a waiver of consent for this study as per the Indian
Council of Medical Research guidelines.[13]

Results
The survey was successfully completed by 396 participants
from various MCI recognized medical colleges conducting
MD pharmacology course. Three forms were rejected as they
were filled by 1styear MD student, faculty of other specialty,
and faculty from dental college. The results of 393 participants
are expressed in percentages. Figure1 shows the types of
respondents. The maximum number of respondents were from
government medical colleges (57.9%), followed by private

Materials and Methods

Following approval from the Instituional Ethics Commitee, this
questionnairebased study was conducted in medical colleges
conducting the PG MD pharmacology course in India. There are
742 MD pharmacology seats per year in 247 medical colleges
recognized/permitted by the MCI for MD pharmacology
course and 3638 faculties in pharmacology departments as
of now.[12]
Faculty of pharmacology, who are PG teachers in MCI
recognized medical colleges conducting MD pharmacology
course, MD pharmacology students in 2ndor 3rdyear in MCI
recognized medical colleges, and other MD/DM pharmacology
stakeholders in pharmaceutical industry, research institutes,
etc., were included in the study. Faculty and MD students in the
department of pharmacology working in medical colleges not
recognized by MCI for conducting MD pharmacology course
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Figure1: Stakeholders who responded to a questionnaire about Doctor of Medicine

pharmacology curriculum in India (n=393)
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Badyal and Daniel: Survey of curriculum for MD Pharmacology

medical colleges(38.1%) and rest were from other places such

as multispecialty hospitals, contract research organizations,
and research institutes. Out of all responders, 21.9% assistant
professors, 18.9% associate professors, 20.2% professors, 29.1%
MD students, 5.6% senior residents, and 2.1% medical advisor/
director from pharmaceutical industry[Figure2] responded.
Regionwise distribution shows that 31.6% of the responses
were obtained from Northern states of India while 25.2% from
the Southern states[Figure3]. The response rates from the
central, western, and north eastern states were 22.5%, 10.3%,
and 10.6%, respectively. More respondents (65.4%) were in
the age group of less than 40years. Information about the
teaching experience was obtained from the faculty members
and it was observed that around 38.8% of the faculty have
teaching experience between 3 and<6years, 24.1% between
6 and <12years, 18% between12 and<18years, and 19.1%
has >18years. The qualification of 95.7% of the respondents
was MD pharmacology, 4.3% PhD pharmacology, 2.10% DM
clinical pharmacology, and 1.3% DNB. DM and DNB qualified
participants have done MD earlier.
Responding to a question about their awareness of the MCI
broader guidelines for MD course, 83.1% of the respondents
have responded that they were aware of the MCI guidelines
for MD pharmacology curriculum. Nearly 54.3% of the
respondents said that the curriculum is being followed in their
institution, 38.4 said that it is being followed partly, and 7.3%
respondents said that it is not being followed. A total 69.7%
of the respondents said that their university has a separate
curriculum for MD pharmacology. However, they added
that curriculum mainly focuses on cognitive domain(45.55%)
and less on psychomotor (29.5) and affective (24.95%)
domain. When asked about the future career prospects,
participants are well aware of pharmacologists roles in
academics (70.8%), pharmaceutical industries (73%), clinical
research organizations (68%), and regulatory bodies (50%).
Few added that the pharmacologist can have a role as clinical
pharmacologist in hospitals, as a physician, in patient care by
providing pharmacology consult, helping in interpretation of
laboratory data about drug levels, etc.
Experimental Pharmacology
Almost half (53.2%) of the respondents have said that
experiments using live animals/tissues are being conducted
in their institutes, 21.5% said that it is partly done, and
25.3% reported that animal experiments are not conducted
in their institution. Approximately, 64.8% of participants
mentioned that computerbased alternatives are being used
to replace animal experiments. Almost 29.5% said that
noncomputerbased alternatives (graphs and charts) are
being used to replace animal experiments. The common
computerbased alternatives used include various software
available in India such as CAL, ExPharm, and Xcology; video
demonstration of experiments and using paperbased exercises
such as graphs/charts. Two respondents mentioned the use of
cell lines in tissue culture and bioassay using chick intestine
obtained from slaughterhouse.
Teaching/training Methods
Figure4 shows various teachinglearning methods being used.
The most common methods used are seminars (98.5%) and
journal clubs presented by PG students(95%). Other methods
Indian Journal of Pharmacology | October 2016 | Vol 48 | Supplement

Figure 2: Designation wise distribution of respondents of the questionnaire on

Doctor of Medicine pharmacology in India (n=393)

Figure3: Regionwise distribution of respondents of the questionnaire on Doctor

of Medicine pharmacology in India

Figure4: Various teachinglearning methods used for postgraduate teaching in

pharmacology (n=393)

include the practical exercises conducted by PG students and

supervised by faculty members (72.6%), practical exercises
conducted by PG students which are not supervised by the
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Badyal and Daniel: Survey of curriculum for MD Pharmacology

faculty(44%), and lectures for PG students by faculty(49%).

The respondents did mention few other methods such as
group discussions, case discussions, tutorials, taking MBBS
class, hospital or laboratory postings, and pharmacovigilance
postings. When asked about interdepartmental postings, 48.5%
of respondents said that they do not have interdepartmental
postings and 18.8% occasionally get it. Approximately,
onefourth (26.5%) of the respondents said that PGs attend
ward rounds to learn trends in the usage of drugs. The duration
on dedicated interdepartmental posting varies from 1week
to 2months in departments such as medicine, emergency
services, dermatology, cardiology, and psychiatry. This is
apart from usual clinical hours spent during thesis work and
pharmacovigilance work. Similarly, 25.4% respondents said that
newer teaching methods such as casebased learning(CBL) and
bedside teaching are being used in their department. However,
most of them described the use of a clinical case followed by
one discussion. There is also mention of microteaching in
existing teaching methods as well as in newer methods. On
being questioned about clinical pharmacology exercises, 38.9%
responded that they conduct clinical pharmacology experiments
for PG students. The various clinical pharmacology exercises
being conducted are mentioned in Table1. The various other
trainings in the MD pharmacology curriculum practiced by
different colleges included separate curriculum on ethics and
professionalism(28.5%), basic biomedical statistics and research
methodology(83.4%), and pharmacokinetic exercises(67.7%).
Most of the respondents(82.4%yes, 15.5%partly) said that
added that PG students are involved in undergraduate(UG)
teaching(82.4%) and they are provided feedback too(69.9%).
The feedback methods mentioned are by taking viva before
class, by microteaching, and by checking their notes/slides.
Majority of the respondents(91.4%) said that the teaching load
is appropriate or very less. PG students usually take practicals
and very few topics of theory related to minor topics. Most of the
respondents(79.9%) added that PG students are never posted
regularly in pharmaceutical industry. Only in a very few(8.6%)
said that PGs are posted regularly in industry. The postings are
variable and sometimes only a single day visit. Mostly, it is of
12weeks duration, and at 4 places it is from 2 to 3months.

teaching assessment (86%), management skills (32%), viva

voce(95%), and human experiments(23.3%). Table2 shows the
various assessment methods used in university examination
as marked by respondents. Responders (73.1%) added that
their departments make an internal assessment for PG students
based on their performance throughout the 3years. However,
there is a marked variation in the way internal assessment is
marked. One extreme mentioned was "to please head of the
department only", and the other was that "it is done periodically
based on daytoday performance and all the tests conducted in
the department". At some places, it is held marked at interval
of 612months. The contribution of three areas of learning
domains, for example, cognitive, psychomotor, and affective
domain in existing objectives, teachinglearning methods,
and assessment is compared in Table3. There is no proper
alignment of these domains in the objectives, teachinglearning
methods, and assessment.

Assessment
Majority of the responders (95.9%) have conveyed that it is
mandatory for PG students to maintain a log book during
their PG course. Less than half of responders(41.5%) stated
that the log books and PG activities are reviewed monthly
at the departmental level, 8.3% added that it is reviewed
only at the end of 3years, and 3.6% have said that it is never
reviewed. At the institutional level, 64% have said that log
books and PG activities are never reviewed or reviewed
only at the end of 3years, and only 5.7% have said that
they have monthly review. The methods of assessment
used for PG students in the course of 3years were regular
theory test papers (61.2%), practical tests (37.7%), marks/
grades awarded to seminars(48.4%), subjective assessments
based on daytoday activities (34.2%), term end/yearly
examinations (55.4%), and objectively structured practical
examination (28.4%). The objectively structured practical
examination(OSPE)is being used for the last 14years. This
assessment includes knowledge(87%), psychomotor(70%), and
affective domains(56%). The respondents have also answered
that their PG university examinations regularly include

Table2: Various components of university practical

examination

S22

Discussion
In this study, we surveyed all components of curriculum and
involved relevant stakeholders. Responses were received from
all types of stakeholders. The respondents were well distributed
in various age groups, qualifications, teaching experience, and
Table1: Various clinical pharmacology exercises
using human volunteers(n=139)
Exercise
Evaluating the analgesic activity of a compound in
human healthy volunteers
Evaluating the effect of various drugs on
psychomotor function
Evaluating the effect of various drugs on cardiac
parameters such as blood pressure and heart rate
Evaluating the effect of various drugs on
pulmonary function using spirometry
Measuring plasma levels of drugs in volunteers for
various kinetic calculations

Percentage of
respondents
61
67
63
2.16
1.43

Components

Using Using human

Using
animals volunteers paperbased
exercises
Long experiment
68
17
61
Short experiment
82
29
61
Statistical exercises
38
17
67
Pharmacokinetic exercises
32
14
69
Computerassisted learning
45
14
41
Values represent percentage of respondents

Table3: The blueprint of weightage to learning

domains in curricular components

Cognitive
Psychomotor
Affective

Objectives
(n=264)
46
30
25

Teaching
learning (n=343)
95
72
15

Assessment
(n=334)
87
68
54

Values represent percentage of respondents

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Badyal and Daniel: Survey of curriculum for MD Pharmacology

designations; hence, the views of all important stakeholders

contributed to the results. However, the representation from
nonacademic originations such as industries and research
organizations was less. This aspect also shows the expansion
of the avenues in pharmacology. A pharmacologist has an
important role in patient care and in research institutes too,
which is often under-rated. Patient care in hospitals and
research institutes. The neglected area seems to be regulatory
bodies. However, the respondent did mention to see
pharmacologists in future in this area also. The response from
government medical colleges was high as compared to other
institutes. The regionwise response shows a good participation
from all regions. The western and northern east region needed
to have more responses. Our results show that most of the
participants were well aware of the MCI guidelines on MD
pharmacology curriculum and most of the respondents have
said that their university has a separate curriculum for MD
pharmacology. It is evident from the results that the curriculum
is followed in some institutions, whereas it is partly followed
and not followed in many other institutions. This shows that
there are nonuniformity and extreme variations in the MD
pharmacology curriculum that is being followed in different
universities.[7,8]
A nonuniformity and a state of confusion still in the area of
experimental pharmacology. Our survey results are similar
to other studies published earlier.[79,11,14] Many institutions
have replaced animal experiments with computerbased
alternatives, charts, and graphs, but some institutes are
performing experiments with live animals/tissues. This
is probably because of the absence of clear guidelines on
whether and to what extent can and should the animal
experiments be continued. [7,14] Various institutions have
developed alternative methods of teaching and evaluation.[15]
The use of some new methods such as bioassay using chick
intestine seems interesting. In fact, recently, the authors have
come across some institutes successfully using chick intestine
obtained from slaughter houses, and it works quite well. The
noncomputerbased alternatives include paperbased cases or
exercises on graphs or clinical pharmacology exercises.
It is evident that the teaching/training methods that are used
are mostly same in all institutions. The present curriculum
insists on conventional teaching/learning methods such as
lectures, practical classes, seminars, and journal clubs.[7,8,11]
Our results show that these training methods are being
used and well followed, but the use of innovative methods
such as CBL, problembased learning, interactive teaching,
clinical pharmacology exercises, and project work is lacking.
Only in very few places, these innovative teaching/learning
methods are followed. Only a few institutions conduct clinical
pharmacology experiments, pharmacokinetic exercises,
and teaching during ward rounds. Anumber of clinical
pharmacology exercises are doable as they need minimum
infrastructure. Basic statistics are covered by most of the
colleges. The interdepartmental postings and postings in
pharmaceutical industry are good options but being followed
by few institutes only. The PG students are quite frequently
used in practical pharmacology exercises for UG classes
and the load of UG teaching on PG students seem to be
appropriate. There is mention of two terms but in variable
meanings by respondents, i.e.,CBL and microteaching. This
Indian Journal of Pharmacology | October 2016 | Vol 48 | Supplement

is not an exactly CBL, but the use of cases in learning. CBL

usually has multiple session on the same case, involvement
of dedicated facilitators, selfdirected learning time, and
followup discussion.[16] Microteaching is another term being
used in various connotations. The term has evolved over time
and truly speaking it is always volunteered and happens
in a nonthreatening environment. Hence, it cannot be an
assessment method. Microteaching means a teacher voluntary
asks few colleagues of his/her choice to provide feedback. The
micropart is group size(56), time(510min), one skill at a
time(e.g.,only body language in one session), and the feedback
which is provided in a set pattern of asking teacher to say what
went well followed by colleagues providing what went well.
This is followed by teacher adding how it can be improved
and colleagues adding to how it can be improved further.[17]
The appropriate term to be used in MD practical examination
should be assessment of teaching and not microteaching.
It was emphasized earlier too that departmental seminars and
journal clubs should have assessments and periodic reviews of
the PG students. There is a mandatory need for PG students
to maintain a log book during their 3years of postgraduation
program. In our survey, some respondents have said that the log
books are reviewed at departmental level only, whereas in some
other colleges, log books are never reviewed. The review at
institutional level is lacking. The regular assessment and review
of log books at departmental and institutional level are needed.
It was also stated that the examination pattern is mostly theory
oriented with less of practicalbased approach.[9] Our results
also show that in majority of the institutes, theory test papers
are usually conducted for assessment. Practical tests, marks/
grades awarded to seminars, and subjective assessments based
on daytoday activities are less considered for the assessment
of PGs. The final university examinations include theory
papers, practical exercises(long and short experiments), viva
voce, teaching assessment and clinical pharmacology(human
experiments), statistical and pharmacokinetic exercises, and
management skills. The internal assessment is not frequently
used for PGs, and its methodology is not uniform. The various
methods of teaching learning and assessment mentioned in this
study are not being used by all institutes as per results of this
study. Hence, these methods can be shared by the institute at
a national platform leading to optimal utilization of resources.
The alignment between objectives, teachinglearning methods,
and assessment is not adequate. This blueprint represents that
the curriculum suffers due to this misalignment. The various
stakeholders might have different interpretations of these
areas. Hence, the proportion of various learning domain needs
to be balanced in the context of objectives of the course. The
curriculum can also be designed keeping in view competencies
expected from a PG student. These broader competencies can be
framed at the national level, and enough flexibility be provided
to universities to frame curriculum around these competencies.

Conclusion
Considering the emerging trends in pharmacology and
therapeutics and the new openings for medical pharmacologists
in various fields, there is a crucial need to frame and bring
uniformity in all curricular components of MD pharmacology
course in India.
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Badyal and Daniel: Survey of curriculum for MD Pharmacology

Acknowledgments
The authors thank the responders who have spent their
valuable time to respond to the survey.

7.

Financial Support and Sponsorship

Nil.
Conflicts of Interest
There are no conflicts of interest.

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