Knowledge attitude and practices of pharmacogenomics and its educational needs among doctors at a tertiary care hospital VIMS, Ballari: a questionnaire based study

Abstract

Background: Genetic differences account for an outsized amount of patient variation in drug response and disposition. Pharmacogenomics is that the study of genetic factors that underlie variation in drug response. The objective of the study was to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practices of pharmacogenomics and its educational needs among doctors of a tertiary care teaching hospital in Vijayanagar Institute of Medical Sciences, Ballari.Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 110 doctors forming a structured questionnaire.Results: Nearly 82.8% of the survey participants were of the age group 25 to 34 years. When choosing appropriate drug therapy for patients, medical record and age were the factors most commonly cited by respondents as extremely or vital (98%). When asked to rank their familiarity with pharmacogenomics, 40% reported somewhat familiar with the subject. 98% of respondents found pharmacogenomic information in drug labelling extremely/very/somewhat helpful. 48.4% of participants knew that drug metabolizing enzymes were the foremost commonly recognized mechanism for pharmacogenomic differences in drug response. The foremost common reasons for not ordering weren't knowing what test to order (48%). The most common pharmacogenomic resource consulted by survey participants were internet (80%), scientific literature (50%), and medical association literature (30%). The most common preferred formats for a perfect pharmacogenomic resource were indicated as web-based (60%), mobile application (60%), and print materials (34%).Conclusions: There's a requirement for improved resource material preferably in electronic format to extend the appliance of genomics to clinical care.