Junior doctor-led practical prescribing course.

BACKGROUND: Several authors have studied the transition from medical student to junior doctor. There have been several problems identified, one being prescribing. Junior doctors have been found to be the cause of most of the prescription errors in hospitals. These authors suggest improvements in prescribing teaching, and several describe their own innovations seeking to correct these problems.

CONTEXT: As junior doctors in a district general hospital in the UK we had the opportunity to provide teaching to small groups of final-year medical students. We had recently begun working as Foundation Year 1 doctors, and had fresh experience of the transition from medical student and the problems that we had encountered with prescribing. We were acutely aware of the commonly made mistakes.

INNOVATION: We have designed a short, five-session course covering the practical aspects of prescribing. Assuming that theory had been covered elsewhere, we focused on encouraging the students to prescribe on real drugs charts using information available to junior doctors on the wards. We measured the efficacy of the course by asking the students to rate their own confidence in prescribing in each of the scenarios before and after the session.

IMPLICATIONS: The intention was to design and deliver a course that would bridge the gap between pharmacological theory and prescribing in practice. Existing prescribing courses are often taught by senior doctors or pharmacists. We believe that the major strength of this course was that it was designed and delivered by junior doctors, under the supervision of a senior doctor.