Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) of BAMS First Year Students about Integration of Streams of Medical Science- A Cross Sectional Survey

Background: Our healthcare must be integrative, according to the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020).The acceptance and practice of both streams by all stakeholders is critical to the success of integration. The purpose of this study was to analyze the knowledge, attitude, and practice of BAMS first-year students about the Indian government's new integrative policy. Materials and Methods: The Study was conducted among first year BAMS students of Ayurvedic medical college between NOV 2020 to Dec 2020. A pre tested structured questionnaire was administered to capture all important aspects, consisting 16 multiple choice questions, of qualitative and quantitative nature, in Google form format, most of the questions were closed ended to assess their knowledge and practices as well as some designed to answer on to assess their attitude. Results: The questionnaire was filled by 100 students studying in the first year BAMS( Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and surgery) course in Ayurvedic medical college. According to the data, 53 percent of respondents were aware that the government has a plan to merge Allopathy and other AYUSH systems into a single national health system by 2030. It is possible to combine both pathies, according to 80% of participants, while it is not viable to integrate both pathies, according to 20 percent. According to our findings, 80% of respondents believe Ayurveda will have a bright future after merger, whereas 4% believe it will not. Conclusion: The first-year BAMS students in our study had a positive attitude toward the merger of Ayurveda and Allopathy. Even after integration, the majority of them were eager to continue practising their chosen path, namely Ayurveda.