European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

INFLUENCE OF AN EDUCATIONAL INTERVENTION ON PRESCRIBING ERRORS OF SECOND YEAR MEDICAL STUDENTS IN A TEACHING MEDICAL COLLEGE IN NEPAL

Keshab Raj Paudel*, Rajesh Kumar Jha, Sangharshila Basnet, Raju Panta, Karma Murti Bhurtyal, Phoolgen Sah and Sandeep Adhikari

ABSTRACT

Background: Writing a medical prescription requires knowledge, judgment and skill. Precise prescription writing decreases the number of prescribing errors and ultimately the number of adverse drug events. Present study focused on the influence of an educational intervention on the prescribing errors of second year medical students. Methods: One hundred thirty-four students participated in the study after giving their consent. All the students (group A- pre-intervention group) were given a case for prescribing. After that, an interactive group demonstration was taken for them and a different clinical case was provided for them for prescribing (group B- post-intervention group). Cases for prescribing were selected from World Health Organization guide to good prescribing. Prior knowledge of prescribing was assessed for group A whereas impact of the educational intervention was observed on group B. Both group A and group B hand written prescriptions were evaluated by using a check-list based on Miller’s and Mucklow et al assessment model. Chi square test (Yates corrected) and paired t test (two tailed) were applied by using EpiInfo 2000 and Excel 2007 to compare the findings. Level of significance (P value) was considered at 0.05. Results: The educational intervention showed positive significant influence on the students’ prescribing errors. Prescribing errors which were significantly improved were prescriber’s contact no, symbol , dosage form of medicine, strength of medicine, route of administration and total amount to be dispensed with improvement on all prescribing errors. Average number of errors per prescription also decreased significantly in group B (4±1.3 Vs 2.1±0.7, P=0.00000). Conclusion: Education interventional program for medical students on prescription writing has significant role in improving prescribing errors.

Keywords: Education, errors, intervention, prescription, students.