Abstract
Medication errors cause preventable patient harm with annual costs of
USD$42 billion globally. In England, 237 million errors occur annually,
accounting for 1700 deaths, with trainee doctors being responsible for
the highest proportion of errors. The UK introduced the national
Prescribing Safety Assessment (PSA) in 2013 to ensure prescribing
competency. Imperial College School of Medicine (ICSM) sought to
increase learning opportunities and reduce errors through a monthly
Prescribing Practice Questions (PPQs) programme. PSA scores from 2020
(prior to PPQ introduction) to 2024 (first cohort to receive entire PPQ
programme), the prescription writing skills (PWS) subsection and applied
knowledge test (AKT) scores in 2020 and 2024 were analysed. 1505
students sat the PSA between 2020 and 2024. PSA fails significantly
reduced from 2.51% in 2020 to 0% in 2024 (p=0.0054). Median PSA scores
significantly improved from 78.5% in 2020 to 84.0% in 2024
(p<0.0001). Median AKT scores decreased between 2020 and 2024
(78.0% vs 74.5%, p<0.0001). Absolute increase in PSA scores
from lowest to highest quintiles was 10 percentage points (pp), 7pp,
5pp, 4pp and 1pp, respectively, between 2020 and 2024. Median PWS scores
significantly improved from 76.3 % (61/80) in 2020 to 87.5% (70/80) in
2024 (p<0.0001). Since introducing PPQs, PSA and PWS scores have
statistically significantly improved, with progressively greater impact
on students at the bottom of the performance distribution. Early,
targeted and repeated opportunities for authentic prescribing
activities, such as the PPQs, in undergraduate training may lead to
significant improvement in prescribing competency as determined by the
PSA.