Improvement in drug prescription skills in medical students through in-person and remote simulated interviews

IntroductionDevelopment of drug prescription skills poses critical challenges in medical education. This study determined the effects of simulated interviews on the improvement of drug prescription skills among medical students in 2020. MethodologyThis was a quantitative, cross-sectional, analytical, quasi-experimental study of simulated interviews for improving rational drug prescription skills in medical students. Baseline, pre-, and post-intervention assessments of prescription skills were performed using an expert-validated instrument constructed from the WHO Good Prescribing Guide. Three simulated interviews with different simulated patients were conducted in two groups: in-person in the first batch and remotely in the second batch due to mandatory social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemics. Friedman, Dunn-Bonferroni, and Wilcoxon tests were used, considering a significance of level p<.05 and standardized mean difference (Hedges g); data were analyzed using Excel 2016 and SPSS 28. ResultsFifty-four students completed the required assessments; in-person 28 and remotely 26. The total score for pharmacological prescription skills increased significantly from pre- to post-intervention measurements, from 12.72 +/-2.94 to 15.44 +/-2.50, respectively (p<.0001) (g: 0.996), and the increase from baseline to post-intervention scores for drug prescription knowledge was 5.39 +/-3.67, 11.28 +/-3.50, respectively (p <.01). DiscussionOur results suggest that the implementation of pre-briefing and debriefing strategies in remote and in-person clinical interviews with simulated patients significantly improved drug prescription skills and pharmacological knowledge among medical students. The logical sequence of the WHO Guide for Good Prescribing may have facilitated debriefing, knowledge acquisition, and transfer to various clinical contexts.