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Impact of a focussed teaching programme on practical prescribing skills among final year medical students
Author(s) -
Sandilands Euan A.,
Reid Karen,
Shaw Laura,
Bateman D. Nicholas,
Webb David J.,
Dhaun Neeraj,
Kluth David C.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
british journal of clinical pharmacology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.216
H-Index - 146
eISSN - 1365-2125
pISSN - 0306-5251
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2125.2010.03808.x
Subject(s) - medicine , medical prescription , documentation , confidence interval , intervention (counseling) , family medicine , educational measurement , pediatrics , curriculum , medical education , nursing , psychology , pedagogy , computer science , programming language
WHAT IS ALREADY KNOWN ABOUT THIS SUBJECT • Medication errors, and particularly prescribing errors, are common in UK hospitals. • Junior doctors make the majority of prescribing errors. • Deficiencies in prescribing education and training have been closely linked to the high frequency of medication errors. WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS • Focussed prescribing teaching can lead to an improvement in prescribing ability. • Prescribing confidence can be significantly improved through education. • Education is insufficient alone in eradicating prescribing errors. AIM To assess the impact of prescribing teaching on final year medical students. METHODS Students randomly allocated to two hospitals completed a prescribing assessment. Prescribing teaching was delivered to the intervention group while no additional teaching was provided for the control group. All students then completed a second prescribing assessment. RESULTS Teaching improved the assessment score: mean assessment 2 vs. 1, 70% vs . 62%, P = 0.007; allergy documentation: 98% vs. 74%, P = 0.0001; and confidence. However, 30% of prescriptions continued to include prescribing errors. CONCLUSION Medical students make significant errors in prescribing. Teaching improves ability and confidence but is insufficient alone in eradicating errors.