Long-term experience with a program to improve prescription-writing skills.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Prescription-writing skills are often overlooked in resident education. The present study evaluates a method of improving prescription-writing skills over a 2-year period. METHODS: This was a prospective, nonblinded, nonrandomized trial of an educational method to improve prescription-writing abilities of a class of 12 family practice residents. The intervention included evaluation and feedback of prescription writing by a clinical pharmacist using copies of prescriptions written over a 2-year period and applying previously defined criteria for determining prescription-writing errors. RESULTS: The baseline prescription-writing error rate was 14.4%. Over the 2-year intervention, prescription-writing errors by all residents decreased to 6.0% (P = .0002). Error rates decreased 58% from the baseline during the last 6 months of the intervention (P = .001). CONCLUSIONS: Continuous evaluation and feedback improved prescription-writing skills and improved communication with pharmacists and patients.