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. 2023 Sep 1;34(3):231-234.
doi: 10.1097/JPA.0000000000000530.

Are Physician Assistants Able to Correctly Identify Prescribing Errors? A Cross-Sectional Study

Chris Gillette  1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10 , Courtney J Perry  1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10 , Stefanie P Ferreri  1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10 , Caroline Grey Bell Sisson  1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10 , Gayle B Bodner  1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10 , Caitlin E Jones  1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10 , Samantha D Rogers  1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10 , Tiffany H Rose  1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10 , Edward Hak-Sing Ip  1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10 , Sonia J Crandall  1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10
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Are Physician Assistants Able to Correctly Identify Prescribing Errors? A Cross-Sectional Study

Chris Gillette et al. J Physician Assist Educ. .

Abstract

Purpose: (1) To describe how often physician assistant (PA) students correctly identify prescribing errors and (2) examine between-cohort differences on ability to correctly identify prescribing errors.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of 2 cohorts of PA students at one institution. Students were presented with 3 hypothetical prescriptions, 2 of which contained a prescribing error. For each prescription, students were asked to (1) identify whether an error occurred and (2) indicate the type of error. A simple Poisson regression model analyzed the data.

Results: We received responses from 130 students (72.6% response rate). Approximately 12% (12.3%, n = 16) correctly identified whether all 3 prescriptions were correct. The median number of correctly identified prescriptions was 1 (interquartile range = 1). There was not a statistically significant between-cohort difference identifying the correct number of prescriptions (β = 0.27, P = .10).

Conclusion: Physician assistant students' prescribing error identification was similar to previous research in medical and nursing students. Efforts to improve prescribing training are critical to ensure patient safety.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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