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Safe prescribing: an educational intervention for medical students
Jane M Garbutt1, Thomas M DeFer, Gabrielle Highstein
1Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine , St. Louis, Missouri 63110, USA. jgarbutt@im.wustl.edu
Teaching and Learning in Medicine
|June 17, 2006
Summary
A brief educational intervention significantly improved medical students' safe prescribing practices. Error-free medication orders increased fivefold, while dangerous prescribing errors decreased, highlighting the intervention's effectiveness.
Area of Science:
- Medical Education
- Patient Safety
- Clinical Pharmacy
Background:
- Handwritten medication orders frequently contain errors, posing risks to patient safety.
- Medical students require effective training to ensure safe prescribing practices.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate a concise educational intervention aimed at enhancing safe prescribing among medical students.
- To assess the impact of interactive learning sessions on reducing prescribing errors.
Main Methods:
- A pre-post evaluation design was employed.
- Third-year medical students received two 1-hour interactive educational sessions.
- Prescribing accuracy was measured using a verbal transcription test.
Main Results:
- The average number of error-free orders per student increased fivefold post-intervention (0.82 to 4.54).
- The average number of total errors per student decreased significantly (13.96 to 7.36, p < .0001).
- The average number of dangerous errors per student also decreased significantly (4.75 to 2.68, p < .0001).
Conclusions:
- A brief, interactive educational intervention effectively improved medical students' handwritten prescribing accuracy.
- The intervention led to a notable reduction in prescribing errors and dangerous errors.
- Further training may be necessary to sustain and further enhance safe prescribing skills.
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