A Comparative Study on the Cognitive Ability of the 1st Year and 6th Year (Interns) Pharmacy Students

Cognition is concerned with the internal mental processes that begin with an external stimulus and result in a behavioral response. This study focuses on the assessment of the cognition of both 6^th year students and 1^st year students of Pharm. D (Doctor of Pharmacy 6 year integrated course), by using Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Examination-Revised Edition (ACE-R). The test includes measurement of language, memory, attention and orientation, visuospatial, fluency skills which carry total 100 of the score. Methodology/ Material and Method: The comparative study for a year was carried out at a Pharmacy College, the subject enrolled were 120 Pharmacy students, the number of 60 students were from 1^st year, and remaining 60 were from the 6^th year (Interns). The Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Examination-Revised Edition (ACE-R) was used on the Fresher’s who recently took admission in 1^st year of the Academics comparing it to the ACER-R test taken by the 6^th year (Interns). The statistical inference was calculated from differences in Average Score and Standard Deviation, comparing these two groups to understand whether extensive use of cognition will increase the cognitive ability of individuals or deteriorate over the period span of 6 years under high stress and hard work. Result: Students in the 1^st year showed comparatively better cognitive ability through ACE-R scores (average score = 83.38/100, standard deviation = 5.32) than the 6^th year (average score = 78.63/100, standard deviation = 5.55) with the difference decline of 5.50% in the cognition and this difference was statistically very significant with the p-value. [p = 0.000354052] [p<0.5]. Conclusion: The cognitive ability of 6^th year Pharmacy students has shown a statistically significant difference in ACE-R scores as compared to 1^st year Pharmacy students, with a decline of 5.50%, which suggests that extensive use of cognition, may result in idiosyncrasy due to various stressful situations over the period of 6 years, the reason found to be Academic, Carrier Pressure or maybe Poor Dormitory, Dietary Lifestyle.