Novel online inter-professional education in Prescribing Science for pharmacy and medical interns and undergraduate medical students

Commission on Patient Safety and Quality Assurance “Building a Culture of Patient Safety” noted that poor teamwork and lack of integration of primary care professionals contributed to adverse events in Ireland. The Commission called for multi-disciplinary education programmes at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. The introduction of a new National Pharmacy Internship Programme provided an ideal opportunity for an inter-professional approach to address patient safety.The Interprofessional Prescribing Science module (15 ECTS) was delivered to postgraduate pharmacy interns, postgraduate medical interns and final year medical students. Baseline competence was assessed. This was followed by an online teaching programme using problem based clinical quizzes, evidence-based e-tutorials, a discussion forum and links to research resources.A total of 655 enrolled in the module with over 90,000 logged activities recorded over 6 months. There was no overall difference between the 3 groups in the baseline competency, all scoring below 35%. Sub-analysis demonstrated differences related to professional background. Post-course analysis showed significant improvement for the PPIs, with analysis of the other groups to follow. On-line discussion between the professional groups was limited, and students and interns will be paired to undertake joint prescribing exercises for the next intake.Online Interprofessional education can effectively facilitate learning for large groups of different professions dispersed geographically. It provides an opportunity for characterising knowledge and learning patterns of healthcare graduates. This data can be utilised to inform curriculum review and methods for improving collaboration. There is no legislative base for pharmacist prescribing in Ireland at present. This study, which provides an evidence base for competence in prescribing, along with the proposed expansion of the module to provide a certificate in prescribing/prescribing sciences, will facilitate policy development in this area.