A national standardized assessment on prescribing adequately measures the knowledge and skills of graduating medical students in the United Kingdom, according to a study published online May 21 in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.
"The [Prescribing Safety Assessment (PSA)] has proved to be a powerful tool to emphasise the importance of prescribing and the principles of clinical pharmacology," write Simon Maxwell, MD, PhD, from the University of Edinburgh Medical Education Centre in Scotland, and colleagues. It also strengthened students' familiarity with the online standard reference resource for UK prescribers, they add.
"The key points from this report of PSA2016 are that: (i) the overall performance of the candidates was good, (ii) there is some evidence that performance is improving, (iii) the reliability of the assessment is improving, and (iv) there is significant variation in the performance of students from different medical schools," the authors conclude.
Past studies cited by the authors have found that physicians in their first year of clinical practice make errors in their prescribing at a rate of 7% to 10%. Even among experienced physicians in the hospital and general practice, the prescribing error rate is about 5%.
Therefore, the British Pharmacological Society and Medical Schools Council Assessment developed the PAS in 2010 to evaluate final-year medical students' knowledge, judgment, and skills related to pharmacology and writing prescriptions.
The 2-hour online assessment aims to assess "complex skills including powers of deduction and problem solving that are relevant to the work" of physicians in their first and second years in the National Health Service. Before the exam, students have access to a dozen information videos about the assessment, and four practice tests of 30 questions each, with feedback for each question.
After a pilot run in 2012 and 2013, the assessment became fully implemented in all the United Kingdom's medical schools in 2014. In 2016, the assessment became required for all physicians entering their first year of postgraduate training. Those who did not pass could still practice clinically under extra supervision, but had to pass before the end of that first year.
Read full article at: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/880867
Related article at: Pharmacology Help Online
"The [Prescribing Safety Assessment (PSA)] has proved to be a powerful tool to emphasise the importance of prescribing and the principles of clinical pharmacology," write Simon Maxwell, MD, PhD, from the University of Edinburgh Medical Education Centre in Scotland, and colleagues. It also strengthened students' familiarity with the online standard reference resource for UK prescribers, they add.
"The key points from this report of PSA2016 are that: (i) the overall performance of the candidates was good, (ii) there is some evidence that performance is improving, (iii) the reliability of the assessment is improving, and (iv) there is significant variation in the performance of students from different medical schools," the authors conclude.
Past studies cited by the authors have found that physicians in their first year of clinical practice make errors in their prescribing at a rate of 7% to 10%. Even among experienced physicians in the hospital and general practice, the prescribing error rate is about 5%.
Therefore, the British Pharmacological Society and Medical Schools Council Assessment developed the PAS in 2010 to evaluate final-year medical students' knowledge, judgment, and skills related to pharmacology and writing prescriptions.
The 2-hour online assessment aims to assess "complex skills including powers of deduction and problem solving that are relevant to the work" of physicians in their first and second years in the National Health Service. Before the exam, students have access to a dozen information videos about the assessment, and four practice tests of 30 questions each, with feedback for each question.
After a pilot run in 2012 and 2013, the assessment became fully implemented in all the United Kingdom's medical schools in 2014. In 2016, the assessment became required for all physicians entering their first year of postgraduate training. Those who did not pass could still practice clinically under extra supervision, but had to pass before the end of that first year.
Read full article at: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/880867
Related article at: Pharmacology Help Online
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