WHAT IS ALREADY KNOWN ON THIS SUBJECT • Adverse drug events are common in National Health Service (NHS) hospitals where junior doctors take responsibility for most of the prescribing. • Safe and effective prescribing of drugs is a core competency expected of all medical graduates. • There is a perception from some of those who supervise the prescribing of drugs in the NHS that undergraduate teaching in this area may be deficient, although this view is contested. WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS • Our study suggests that a large proportion of medical students and recent graduates from UK medical schools who responded also believe that their teaching and assessment in this area was inadequate. • This result implies that those responsible for overseeing undergraduate education should urgently review teaching and assessment of competency in relation to prescribing in all UK medical schools. AIMS To gather opinions from UK medical students and recent graduates about their undergraduate training to prescribe and their confidence about meeting the relevant competencies identified by the General Medical Council (GMC). METHODS We designed a web‐based survey that was distributed to UK medical students and first year Foundation doctors (graduation years 2006–2008) via medical schools and postgraduate networks. RESULTS Analysis was restricted to 2413 responses from students graduating in 2006–2008 from the 25 UK medical schools (mean 96.5 per school) with a complete undergraduate curriculum. Distinct courses and assessments in ‘clinical pharmacology & therapeutics (or equivalent)’ were identified by 17% and 13%, respectively, with mode of learning described most commonly as ‘opportunistic learning during clinical attachments’ (41%). Only 38% felt ‘confident’ about prescription writing and only a minority (35%) had filled in a hospital prescription chart more than three times during training. The majority (74%) felt that the amount of teaching in this area was ‘too little’ or ‘far too little’, and most tended to disagree or disagreed that their assessment ‘thoroughly tested knowledge and skills’ (56%). When asked if they were confident that they would be able to achieve the prescribing competencies set out by the GMC, 42% disagreed or tended to disagree, whereas only 29% agreed or tended to agree. CONCLUSIONS Many respondents clearly perceived a lack of learning opportunities and assessment related to the safe and effective use of drugs and had little confidence that they would meet the competencies identified by the GMC. There is an urgent need to review undergraduate training in this area.

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Background: Human growth hormone (hGH) is best known for influencing bone and muscle growth, as well as body composition, but the use of recombinant hGH is controversial. Amino acids are a potentially safer alternative; however, preliminary investigations of the effects of oral amino acids on hGH release have been inconclusive. Therefore, we tested the effects of a novel blend of amino acids optimized to increase hGH release. Study Question: Does an investigational amino acid supplement affect hGH release? Study Design: This was a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, crossover study that included 16 (12 men, 4 women; age 32 ± 14 years; body mass index 26.4 ± 5.0 kg/m2) healthy participants. All participants received both placebo and the amino acid supplement after an overnight fast and completed all study visits. Treatment order was randomized, and each treatment was separated by a 1-week washout period. Measures and Outcomes: The primary outcomes were the percent change in hGH from baseline to 120 minutes and the area under the curve of hGH over baseline. Serum hGH was measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay at baseline and 15, 30, 60, 90, and 120 minutes. Results: At 120 minutes, hGH levels increased by 682% (8-fold) from baseline and were significantly higher than placebo (P = 0.01). In addition, a significantly higher mean area under the curve was observed for the amino acid supplement compared with the placebo [20.4 (95% confidence interval, 19.9–21.0 ng/mL) vs. 19.7 (95% confidence interval, 18.7–20.6 ng/mL); P = 0.04]. Conclusions: These results show that a single dose of the oral amino acid supplement was sufficient to significantly increase hGH levels in healthy adult men and women. Clinical Trial Registry: clinicaltrials.gov NCT01540773.