European List of Essential Medicines for Medical Education: a protocol for a modified Delphi study

Abstract

IntroductionJunior doctors are responsible for a substantial number of prescribing errors, and final-year medical students lack sufficient prescribing knowledge and skills just before they graduate. Various national and international projects have been initiated to reform the teaching of clinical pharmacology and therapeutics (CP&T) during undergraduate medical training. However, there is as yet no list of commonly prescribed and available medicines that European doctors should be able to independently prescribe safely and effectively without direct supervision. Such a list could form the basis for a European Prescribing Exam and would harmonise European CP&T education. Therefore, the aim of this study is to reach consensus on a list of widely prescribed medicines, available in most European countries, that European junior doctors should be able to independently prescribe safely and effectively without direct supervision: the European List of Essential Medicines for Medical Education.Methods and analysisThis modified Delphi study will recruit European CP&T teachers (expert group). Two Delphi rounds will be carried out to enable a list to be drawn up of medicines that are available in ≥80% of European countries, which are considered standard prescribing practice, and which junior doctors should be able to prescribe safely and effectively without supervision.Ethics and disseminationThe study has been approved by the Medical Ethics Review Committee of VU University Medical Center (no. 2020.335) and by the Ethical Review Board of the Netherlands Association for Medical Education (approved project no. NVMO‐ERB 2020.4.8). The European List of Essential Medicines for Medical Education will be presented at national and international conferences and will be submitted to international peer-reviewed journals. It will also be used to develop and implement the European Prescribing Exam.

The Dutch list of essential drugs for undergraduate medical education: A modified Delphi study

“…However, to perform this in all European countries would require a lot of effort. By using the European Association for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (EACPT) Network of Teachers in Pharmacotherapy, a European list, with if necessary national adjustments, could be developed 34 . This will contribute to the continuity of the path taken by the EACPT (i.e., the Key Learning Outcomes for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics Education, the European Prescribing Exam and the European Open Platform for Prescribing Education) 20,27,35,36 …”

Teaching resources for the European Open Platform for Prescribing Education (EurOP2E)—a nominal group technique study

“…Thirdly, we noted before that not all suggestions were truly new, and we recognize that this may be due to priming. For example, many of the participants had also participated in a Delphi study aimed at developing a European list of essential medicines 22 , which may explain how this came to be a theme in this study.…”

The European List of Key Medicines for Medical Education: A Modified Delphi Study

“…Participation was voluntary. The full protocol has been published elsewhere 31 ; here, we describe it briefly.…”