Awareness of clinical trials among university pharmacy students - a questionnaire survey

Background:There is an increasing trend to undertake clinical trials in India from the past one decade, but its awareness has not reached to the maximum among the health care professionals and pharmacists in particular. The present study was aimed to evaluate the general awareness of the clinical trials among pharmacy undergraduates and postgraduates. To ascertain their interest to be involved in clinical trials and research studies in the present and future scenarios and to evaluate the various barriers in the way of conducting clinical trials from their perspective. Materials and methods: This was a questionnaire based study which was conducted among the University Pharmacy students. The respondents were enrolled after explaining to them the aims and objectives of the study and their willingness was checked before their participation in the study. The basic demographic information and qualitative statements were noted. Results:A total of 102 students participated in the study. A majority of the students had a very poor concept regarding the designing of the study, the sponsors, the role of DCGI, protocol writing/ IRB /ethics committee (60- 80%), etc. However, they scored on an average scale in knowing the basic concepts of clinical trials, preclinical testing, adverse events (30-40%), etc. Conclusion: Increasing boom in clinical research opens a door for more job opportunities and advanced research; hence, it is mandatory to educate the students at the grass root level about this advanced branch in itself. From this study, we conclude that the awareness about clinical trials and research in pharmacy students stands at an average. These major pitfalls could be improved by conducting many workshops, CMEs, panel discussions and symposiums at the college level itself.