Erasmus Medical Centre, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Hospital Pharmacy, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Erasmus Medical Centre, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Institute of Medical Education Research Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Br J Clin Pharmacol. 2022 Dec;88(12):5202-5217. doi: 10.1111/bcp.15427. Epub 2022 Jul 4.
Prescribing errors occur frequently, especially among junior doctors. Our aim was to investigate prescribing errors made by final-year medical students. Information on these errors can help to improve education on and assessment of clinical pharmacotherapy (CPT).
This was a retrospective cohort study amongst final-year medical students at Erasmus Medical Centre, The Netherlands. Errors made in the final prescribing assessment were analysed. Errors were categorized by type, possible consequence and possibility of reaching the patient in real life.
A total of 381 students wrote 1502 analysable prescriptions. Forty per cent of these contained at least one error, and 54% of errors were of the inadequate information type. The rating of prescriptions for children was lower than for other question categories (P = <.001). Fifty per cent of errors were classified as "would have reached the patient but would not have had the potential to cause harm". In total, 253 (29%) errors would not have been intercepted by an electronic prescribing system or a pharmacist. Ten (4%) of these would probably have caused harm in the patient.
There is a high rate of errors in prescriptions written by final-year medical students. Most errors were of the inadequate information type, indicating that students had difficulties determining the content and amount of information needed to make treatment successful. Prescriptions for children contained most errors. Curricula could be improved by offering more case-based CPT education, focusing on the practical issues of prescribing, especially for paediatric cases, and offering more practice time for prescribing during clerkships.
处方错误经常发生，尤其是在初级医生中。我们的目的是调查最后一年医学生的处方错误。这些错误的信息有助于改善临床药物治疗（CPT）的教育和评估。
这是荷兰伊拉斯谟医学中心最后一年医学生的回顾性队列研究。分析了最终处方评估中出现的错误。根据类型、可能的后果和在现实生活中到达患者的可能性对错误进行分类。
共有 381 名学生写了 1502 份可分析的处方。其中 40%的处方至少有一个错误，54%的错误属于信息不足类型。儿童处方的评分低于其他问题类别（P<.001）。50%的错误被归类为“本会送达患者但不会造成潜在伤害”。总共有 253（29%）个错误不会被电子处方系统或药剂师拦截。其中 10（4%）个可能会对患者造成伤害。
最后一年医学生写的处方错误率很高。大多数错误属于信息不足类型，这表明学生在确定成功治疗所需的信息量和内容方面存在困难。儿童处方包含最多的错误。课程可以通过提供更多基于案例的 CPT 教育、专注于处方的实际问题，特别是儿科病例，以及在实习期间提供更多的处方实践时间来改进。
