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Factors influencing prescribing: an intern's perspective
Sallie-Anne Pearson1, Isobel Rolfe, Tony Smith
1Deparment of Ambulatory Care and Prevention, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA. sallie-anne_pearson@hphc.org
Medical Education
|August 23, 2002
Summary
Intern prescribing is influenced by teachers, teaching methods, resources, and error management. Positive influences enhance confidence and skills, while negative factors hinder development.
Area of Science:
- Medical Education
- Clinical Pharmacy
- Health Professions Education
Background:
- Intern prescribing is a critical stage for developing essential clinical skills.
- Understanding influences on intern prescribing is vital for effective medical education.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate self-reported factors affecting intern prescribing practices.
- To identify positive and negative influences on junior doctor prescribing.
Main Methods:
- Qualitative interviews conducted with a cross-sectional cohort of ten interns.
- Study participants were interns practicing in two urban teaching hospitals in New South Wales, Australia.
Main Results:
- Positive influences include accessible teachers (registrars, nurses, pharmacists), practical teaching, concise resources, and constructive error feedback.
- Negative influences include remote consultants, theoretical teaching, inaccessible resources, confrontational error handling, time pressures, hierarchies, and drug promotion.
Conclusions:
- Interns face diverse influences impacting prescribing during a key developmental period.
- Findings can inform the design of targeted prescriber education programs for junior doctors.