Using Simulation to Improve First-Year Pharmacy Students’ Ability to Identify Medication Errors Involving the Top 100 Prescription Medications

Abstract

Objective. To evaluate first-year pharmacy students' ability to identify medication errors involving the top 100 prescription medications. Design. In the first quarter of a 3-quarter pharmacy self-care course, a didactic lecture on the most common prescribing and dispensing prescription errors was presented to first-year pharmacy students (P1) in preparation for a prescription review simulation done individually and as a group. In the following quarter, they were given a formal prescription review workshop before a second simulation involving individual and group review of a different set of prescriptions. Students were evaluated based on the number of correctly checked prescriptions and a self-assessment of their confidence in reviewing prescriptions. Assessment. All 63 P1 students completed the prescription review simulations. The individual scores did not significantly change, but group scores improved from 79 (16.2%) in the fall quarter to 98.6 (4.7%) in the winter quarter. Students perceived improvement of their prescription checking skills, specifically in their ability to fill a prescription on their own, identify prescribing and dispensing errors, and perform pharmaceutical calculations. Conclusion. A prescription review module consisting of a didactic lecture, workshop and simulation-based methods to teach prescription analysis was successful at improving first year pharmacy students' knowledge, confidence, and application of these skills.

Curricular Integration of the Pharmacist’s Patient Care Process (PPCP)

“…The strengths of this study show that low cost solutions, such as paper based simulation activities and faculty simulations have the potential to improve active learning in laboratory courses as an effective method to introduce PPCP skillsets. The findings of our study are consistent with literature published in medical students' education showing that students improve their self-confidence, knowledge and skills when they practice in a simulated environment using a learner-centered approach [14,15,20,22]. Furthermore, the study highlights that introducing PPCP via active learning and simulation based teaching not only improves students' PPCP confidence directly after concluding the course but also that students expressed that they were more prepared for experiential training.…”

“…Using SBAR to practice communications with standardized colleague simulations in both inpatient and outpatient settings showed to improve students' perception of their confidence in interprofessional communication performance [19]. As students learn the new model and sharpen their communication skillset, the chance for errors during implementation of their patient care plans is minimized [14,20]. Although students gain confidence and competence in applying the PPCP model during experiential rotations, introducing the model via simulation activities helps students learn how to apply it [21].…”

Segurança no uso dos medicamentos: revisão integrativa das estratégias utilizadas no ensino em saúde

“…Para que a simulação seja completa, estudos sugerem a inclusão de ferramentas para introdução de conteúdo, como por exemplo, palestras ou workshop, observação das atividades, avaliação de competência e confiança e feedback, podendo serem utilizados no conjunto ou em separado (Hayes et al, 2015;Orbaek et al, 2015;Atayee, Awdishu & Namba, 2016;Ward e Wasson, 2016;Sanko e McKay, 2017;Serag-Bolos et al, 2017;Nascimento e Magro, 2018;Marvanova e Henkel, 2018). Outra metodologia associada foi a reflexão através de relatório escrito pelo discente posterior a simulação, sendo descrita como importante para avaliar a performance, identificar interrupções do processo que impactam na prática de administração de medicamentos, formular estratégias de conduta e produzir autoconhecimento (Hayes et al, 2015;Marvanova e Henkel, 2018;Krivanek et al, 2018).…”

“…Esse tipo de metodologia exige uma demanda de preparação dos cenários, bem como, tempo de execução e feedback individual para todos os alunos, conforme já apontado por Rodrigues et al (2020). Um estudo questionou os discentes quanto a experiência com a simulação, 90,2% preferem manter o aprendizado com esta metodologia e 97,5% recomendariam para outros estudantes (Atayee, Awdishu & Namba, 2016). O que demonstra a grande aceitação dos discentes com este tipo de metodologia, tornando ativo no processo de ensino aprendizagem.…”

Analysis of Dispensing Errors Made by First-Year Pharmacy Students in a Virtual Dispensing Assessment

“…Utilizing a simulated environment, students are given an authentic dispensing experience, contextualizing the theory learnt as part of their curriculum [ 9 ]. The use of a simulated environment allow students to better understand and identify medication and prescription errors [ 10 ], without the “real-life” consequences of dispensing errors. A study showed students found MyDispense to be an effective tool for learning prior to commencement of placements [ 11 ] and assessments [ 12 ].…”