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Essential competencies in prescribing: A first european cross‐sectional study among 895 final‐year medical students
Author(s) -
Brinkman DJ,
Tichelaar J,
Schutte T,
Benemei S,
Böttiger Y,
Chamontin B,
Christiaens T,
Likic R,
Maˇiulaitis R,
Marandi T,
Monteiro EC,
Papaioannidou P,
Pers YM,
Pontes C,
Raskovic A,
Regenthal R,
Sanz EJ,
Tamba BI,
Wilson K,
Vries TP de,
Richir MC,
Agtmael MA van
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
clinical pharmacology and therapeutics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.941
H-Index - 188
eISSN - 1532-6535
pISSN - 0009-9236
DOI - 10.1002/cpt.521
Subject(s) - graduation (instrument) , curriculum , medicine , cross sectional study , medical education , family medicine , core competency , multicenter study , psychology , pedagogy , randomized controlled trial , marketing , business , geometry , mathematics , surgery , pathology
European medical students should have acquired adequate prescribing competencies before graduation, but it is not known whether this is the case. In this international multicenter study, we evaluated the essential knowledge, skills, and attitudes in clinical pharmacology and therapeutics (CPT) of final‐year medical students across Europe. In a cross‐sectional design, 26 medical schools from 17 European countries were asked to administer a standardized assessment and questionnaire to 50 final‐year students. Although there were differences between schools, our results show an overall lack of essential prescribing competencies among final‐year students in Europe. Students had a poor knowledge of drug interactions and contraindications, and chose inappropriate therapies for common diseases or made prescribing errors. Our results suggest that undergraduate teaching in CPT is inadequate in many European schools, leading to incompetent prescribers and potentially unsafe patient care. A European core curriculum with clear learning outcomes and assessments should be urgently developed.