Student and Foundation Year Pharmacist Performance in the ‘UK Prescribing Safety Assessment’

Abstract

BackgroundIncreasingly the global policy direction is for patient-facing pharmacist prescribers. The ‘UK Prescribing Safety Assessment’ (PSA) was developed for medical graduates to demonstrate prescribing competencies in relation to the safe and effective use of medicines.ObjectivesTo determine PSA performance of final year undergraduate student pharmacists (year 4) and pre-registration pharmacy graduates (year 5) and explore their opinions on its suitability. SettingScotland, UKMethodsFinal year undergraduates (n= 238) and pharmacy pre-registration graduates (n= 167) were briefed and undertook the PSA. PSA questions were mapped to specific thematic areas with 30 questions over 60 minutes. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics. A questionnaire was completed to gauge opinions on appropriateness of the PSA.Main Outcome Measure PSA scoresResultsMean total PSA score for pre-registration graduates (64.4, SD 10) was significantly higher than for undergraduates (51.2, SD 12.0,) (p<0.001). Pre-registration graduates performed significantly better across all question areas (all p<0.001 other than ‘adverse drug reactions’, p<0.01). Hospital pre-registration graduates performed statistically significantly better than community with higher overall scores (67.4, SD 9.8 v 63.2, SD 9.8, p<0.05). Positive views on the appropriateness of the approach and the usability of the online interface were obtained from participants. ConclusionHospital graduates performed better than the undergraduates, but there is a need to improve prescribing skills in all, most notably in diagnostic skills. The PSA is acceptable to the participants. These results will help inform pharmacy curricula development and provides a cross-disciplinary method of assessment of prescribing competence.