Impact of a focussed teaching programme on practical prescribing skills among final year medical students

Keywords:
medical education;medication errors;prescribing
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.