Teaching and assessment of prescribing medicines : how does pharmacy perform?

BACKGROUND Prescribing is a complex task, requiring specific knowledge and skills combined with effective, context-specific clinical reasoning. Prescribing errors can result in significant morbidity and mortality. For all professions with prescribing rights, a clear need exists to ensure students graduate with a well-defined set of prescribing skills, which will contribute to competent prescribing. AIM To describe the methods employed to teach and assess the principles of effective prescribing across five non-medical professions at Queensland University of Technology. METHOD The NPS National Prescribing Competencies Framework (PCF) was used as the prescribing standard. A curriculum mapping exercise was undertaken to determine how well the PCF was addressed across the disciplines of paramedic science, pharmacy, podiatry, nurse practitioner and optometry. Identified gaps in teaching and/or assessment were noted. RESULTS Prescribing skills and knowledge are taught and assessed using a range of methods across disciplines. A multi-modal approach is employed by all disciplines. The Pharmacy discipline uses more tutorial sessions to teach prescribing principles and relies less on case studies and clinical appraisal to assess prescribing when compared to other disciplines. Within the pharmacy discipline approximately 90% of the PCF competencies are taught and assessed. This compares favourably with the other disciplines. CONCLUSION Further work is required to establish a practical, effective approach to the assessment of prescribing competence especially between the university and clinical settings. Effective and reliable assessment of prescribing undertaken by students in diverse settings remains challenging.