Confidence in Prescription Writing among Junior Physicians in Trinidad and Tobago.
West Indian Med J
; 64(4): 407-12, 2015 Sep.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-26624596
BACKGROUND: A fundamental skill in the practice of medicine is the ability to safely and rationally prescribe drugs. This research aims to estimate the percentage of newly registered medical officers who reported confidence in writing prescriptions. METHODS: A questionnaire was distributed to 200 medical officers employed at public health tertiary institutions throughout Trinidad and Tobago. These comprised medical interns (provisionally registered) and house officers (fully registered). Participants indicated their confidence or reluctance to prescribe with or without supervision. Estimates and comparisons between the two groups were obtained using Fisher's exact and Chi-squared tests. RESULTS: The response rate was 73.5%. More medical interns (68%; n = 41) than house officers (56%; n = 42) stated that they were 'Confident' or 'Very Confident' (p = 0.126) to prescribe. Approximately eighty-four per cent (83.6%; n = 51) of medical interns and 89.2% (n = 66) of house officers felt confident to prescribe antibiotics (p = 0.465). A greater percentage of medical interns (84.2%; n = 50) than house officers (66.7%; n = 49) agreed that undergraduate training equipped them to write prescriptions safely and rationally (c² = 6.17, df = 1; p = 0.012). CONCLUSIONS: While most recent medical graduates felt confident about their prescription writing, there is a need to objectively measure this ability.
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
País/Região como assunto:
Caribe ingles
/
Trinidad y tobago
Idioma:
En
Revista:
West Indian Med J
Ano de publicação:
2015
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Trinidad e Tobago
País de publicação:
Jamaica