title: Retention of drug administration skills after intensive teaching.
abstract: We have identified deficiencies in medical students' drug administration skills, and we attempted to address them with interactive online teaching modules and simulated critical incident scenarios. Short-term improvements have been evident with this intensive effort, but medium-term retention of skills has not been measured. A drug administration lecture, an online module and a simulated emergency scenario were offered to final year clinical students. None of the teaching was compulsory but participation was recorded, along with students' simulator performances and marks in an objective structured practical examination 9 months later. A poor simulator score predicted a poor performance in the later examination. Participation in the simulated scenario only significantly improved examination scores when supplemented by online teaching (p = 0.002). Intensive drug administration teaching using an online module and high fidelity simulation improves drug administration skills in the medium term. Students found simulation much more engaging than online teaching.
authors.affiliation: University Department of Anaesthesia, University of Cambridge, Box 93, Cambridge CB2 2QQ, UK. dww21@cam.ac.uk
authors.forename: D W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Wheeler
authors.forename: B A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Degnan
authors.forename: L J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Murray
authors.forename: C P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Dunling
authors.forename: K D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Whittlestone
authors.forename: D F
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Wood
authors.forename: H L
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: A K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Gupta
mesh_terms: D002626:Chemistry, Pharmaceutical / Q000193:education*; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003194:Computer-Assisted Instruction / Q000379:methods; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000379:methods*; D004630:Emergencies; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008508:Medication Errors / Q000517:prevention & control; D009862:Online Systems; D016544:Patient Simulation; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations