The Telegraph reports on the problems faced by junior doctors, who fill out five or six prescription forms on average during their time in medical school only to have to complete dozens on their first day on the wards. The inadequate preparation contributes to errors that could harm patients - such as omitting drugs, wrong doses, not taking account of a patient's allergies, illegible handwriting or ambiguous orders. According to the General Medical Council 10 per cent of all prescriptions issued by doctors contained such errors.
Now the British Pharmacological Society (BPS) is calling for an exam for medical students and a "prescribing simulator" complete with virtual patients to be introduced to the curriculum so that medics are better prepared when they start in hospitals. Professor Simon Maxwell, chairman of the BPS, said: "We would not accept this kind of error rate in other industries such as aviation. It is a recipe for problems." Source: Telegraph, 15 December, 2009. tinyurl.com/ybnvpnx
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