Abstract

The art of prescribing: an undergraduate intervention linking theory to practice using a peer assisted learning approach

Author(s): Stephen Knight, Fiona Frame, Matthew Smith, Teresa Mac Carrick, Adrian Stanley

UK General Medical Council (GMC) guidelines state that junior doctors must be able to write drug prescriptions safely. However studies demonstrate that medical students and newly qualified doctors feel underprepared, with many suggesting there is insufficient formal teaching combined with limited opportunity to practise the basic skills required during clinical attachments. We describe an intervention designed to improve competence and confidence in drug prescribing using a Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) approach, delivered to undergraduate students in their first clinical year.

A series of case-based workshops were used to facilitate the discussion of commonly prescribed drugs, culminating in a prescription task. Students were asked to complete a pre- and post-intervention questionnaire assessing competence and confidence, and to provide overall feedback on the teaching intervention.

204 students (84.6%) completed the intervention with results demonstrating a highly significant increase in student competence and confidence, with improvements found to be independent of gender, graduate-status and previous prescribing experience. In addition, students reported a high level of satisfaction overall. The findings suggest that utilising a PAL approach linking theory to practice can increase the knowledge, skills and attitudes required for completing drug prescription charts, highlighting the importance of such an intervention in the undergraduate curriculum.