South-East Scotland Prescribing Tutorials Programme – 5 Years On – The Tutees’ Experiences

KR Gibson1, Z Qureshi2, M Ross1, SR Maxwell3. 1University of Edinburgh, Centre for Medical Education, EH16 4SB, UK, 2Queen Mary\'s Hospital for Children, Epson and St Helier\'s Hospital Trust, Paediatrics Department, SM5 1AA, UK, 3University of Edinburgh, Clinical Pharmacology Unit, EH4 2XU, UK

Background: Prescribing tutorials are delivered by junior doctors in the South-East Scotland deanery to final year medical students at the University of Edinburgh. These focus on 10 key acute medical and surgical emergencies and the relevant prescribing principles, with the aim of improving student confidence and competence with prescribing prior to starting work as a junior doctor (Rodrigues et al, 2009). Here, we evaluate the impact of these tutorials on the students five years following the creation of this programme.

Methods: Following attendance at each tutorial during the academic year 2010-2011, final year medical students at the University of Edinburgh completed a questionnaire which explored the students’ prior experiences and attitudes towards prescribing, the experience of attending the tutorials, and the likely impact on their future prescribing.

Results: 207 [86%] final year medical students at the University of Edinburgh attended at least one of the 196 tutorials delivered over the last academic year (average attendance of 6.9 students per tutorial) and 1349 questionnaires were returned [86% response rate]. 26% of respondents were confident about prescribing for their clinical scenario before the tutorial, and 97% were confident following the tutorial. 99% perceived that their knowledge had improved and 94% felt their prescribing skills had improved following attendance. 90% of respondents felt that they were more likely to seek opportunities to write drug administration charts in the clinical setting (under supervision) following participation in the tutorial scheme. 97% were happy with the tailored feedback provided on their prescribing abilities. 95% felt that junior doctors are the best group of teachers to deliver these tutorials. 61% of the students attended mainly to pass their examinations and 99.5% were interested in attending further tutorials. 96% of students were interested in teaching others in the future as a result of attendance at the tutorial. Overall, students rated the tutorials as excellent in 75% of cases, very good in 23% and good in 2% of tutorials.

Conclusion: Our results show that the Year 5 Prescribing Programme is a highly valued model for teaching clinical prescribing to medical students. The Programme meets a significant unmet need for prescribing practice at a time when this has become more difficult because of busy clinical environments and clinical governance concerns. The students’ confidence in their prescribing knowledge and skills is improved. The programme also encourages development of further professional skills such as interest in teaching others in the future which is important in the sustainability of this prescribing teaching programme. Further work on the objective impact of attendance at tutorials, including the association of tutorial attendance with performance in the Prescribing Station of the Final Examinations is currently under analysis.

Reference: Rodrigues, J. et al. (2009). Med Teach 31, 517-57.