General Info

The Department of Pharmacology in JIPMER Karaikal was started in the year 2017 with 50 students per batch. The department is currently contributing in teaching and research activities in the institute. The faculty, senior residents and tutors are involved in taking theory, practical, computer assisted learning activities to second year MBBS students and foundation courses for first year MBBS students.

Vision and Mission

• To train the UG students in the field of pharmacology, and drug prescribing practices.
• To provide patient care services related to pharmacology like therapeutic drug monitoring, pharmacogenomics, personalized medicine.
• To contribute significantly to research activities in preclinical studies, clinical trials, adverse drug reaction monitoring studies, cell culture studies

The department trains second-year MBBS students in both theoretical and practical aspects of Pharmacology.

• Various competitions like poster competition, video contest, meme contest are conducted on ADR reporting.

Department Administration

Research project ongoing:

1. Faculty project- Impact of Active and passive educational intervention in the reporting of adverse drug reactions at various heath care centres in Karaikal, Puducherry. Principal investigator- Dr. Priyadharsini R P, Assistant Professor, Pharmacology Co-Investigator-S.Kiruthika, Assistant Professor, Pharmacology
2. ICMR STS 2024- Ms. Aishwarya, Dr.R.P.Priyadharsini. Prevalence of antibiotic resistant bacteria among the cultured isolates obtained from raw chicken samples in Puducherry and its correlation with WHO bacterial priority pathogen list and AWaRe assessment tool .
3. ICMR STS 2024- Mr.Nimal Siva Roshan, Dr.Kiruthika . Impact of educational intervention on mothers regarding over-the-counter drugs use in children among rural areas of a south Indian district

Research projects completed in JIPMER Karaikal:

• Faculty Project- Dr. R.P. Priyadharsini-Assessment of antibiotic prescribing pattern in a tertiary care hospital
• ICMR STS project 2019: Ms. Dilleswary , Dr. R. P. Priyadharsini. Prevalence of tuberculosis and diabetes comorbidity in patients attending secondary healthcare hospital – A Retrospective study
• Intramural funded project- Problem based integrated module for active learning of pathology- A potpourri approach. Co-investigator- Dr.Divyashanthi C.M, Assistant Professor, Pharmacology
• ICMR STS project 2022: Ms. Preethi mehta, Dr.S.Kiruthika. Evaluation of impact of health education on insulin injection technique in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus at primary health care centre in South India
• UGRMC project 2022: Sandhya, Dr.R.P.Priyadharsini Impact of COVID-19 pandemic lockdown on access to healthcare services and adherence to medication among non-communicable disease patients in Karaikal, Puducherry
• ICMR STS project 2023: Ms Jeyashree.B, Dr.S.Kiruthika. Impact of an educational intervention on knowledge, attitude and practice of expired and unused drugs disposal among medical students in a tertiary care hospital.
• ICMR STS 2023- Ms. Sakshi, Dr. R.P.Priyadharsini. Evaluation of the antibiotic resistance pattern among the clinically significant isolates from wards and its correlation with WHO AWaRe assessment tool in secondary care hospital.

Proposed/planned services

• To provide patient care services related to pharmacology like therapeutic drug monitoring and personalized medicine.
• To monitor the drug safety and to improve ADR reporting by both health professionals and general population.
• To establish a pre-clinical lab to facilitate research and development.

Academic schedule for undergraduates

Every July 62 second MBBS students enter our department and we are handling from the third to fifth semester. The academic year generally lasts till the end of November. During the academic period, students will have Pharmacology lectures thrice in a week and Pharmacology practical classes including computer-assisted learning in the afternoons of Monday and Friday. Notified internal assessment tests are conducted periodically to assess the student’s progress as well as quizzes and MCQ tests are conducted to assess their subject knowledge. The year-ending examinations are conducted in December/January of each year.

Departmental activities

Academic

• The department trains second-year MBBS students in both theoretical and practical aspects of Pharmacology.
• Various competitions like poster competition, video contest, meme contest are conducted on ADR reporting.

Research

The students are involved in ICMR-STS and UGRMC project for past three years.

Total ICMR STS-5 UGRMC-1

Drug safety monitoring

• An ADR Monitoring centre was established in the month of September 2022.
• Sensitisation programs and CME was conducted among various target populations like doctors, nurses, pharmacists, medical , non medical students and general population.
• The department is actively involved in the monitoring and reporting of adverse drug reactions for past 3 years
• National Pharmacovigilance week was celebrated through various programs for the years 2021 to 2024 .