Effectiveness of a national approach to online prescribing education on health professional students' prescribing knowledge from multiple disciplines

Methods: In a university examination setting, 83 medical, 40 pharmacy and 13 nurse practitioner students from three different universities completed a set of multiple-choice questions (MCQs) before and after completing an online module from the National Prescribing Curriculum (NPC). To minimise overestimation of knowledge due to guessing, students had to indicate the level of certainty for each of their answers on a three-point scale. The MCQs were scored using a validated certainty-based marking scheme resulting in a composite score. Students were also required to rate their perception of the usefulness of the NPC as a learning resource. Results: At the pre-module phase, there were no significant differences in the mean and standard deviations of composite MCQ scores between the medical, pharmacy and nurse practitioner students. The scores improved significantly for all groups at the post-module phase (p<0.01 for all groups) by similar extents. 39.4% of the MCQs answered incorrectly with high level of certainty at the pre-module phase were still answered incorrectly with high level of certainty at the post-module phase. Almost all students found the post-module MCQs and feedback useful, and found NPC modules to be a helpful learning tool. There were no significant differences between groups in these feedback items. Conclusions: A national approach to prescribing education improved prescribing knowledge of students from multiple healthcare disciplines and contributed towards streamlining interdisciplinary learning and medication management.