title: Improving prescribing practices: A pharmacist-led educational intervention for nurse practitioner students.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess impact of a pharmacist-led educational intervention on family nurse practitioner (FNP) students' prescribing skills, perception of preparedness to prescribe, and perception of pharmacist as collaborator.
  
  
  METHODS
  Prospective pre-post assessment of a 14-week educational intervention in an FNP program in the spring semester of 2014. Students participated in an online module of weekly patient cases and prescriptions emphasizing legal requirements, prescription accuracy, and appropriate therapy. A pharmacist facilitator provided formative feedback on students' submissions. Participants completed a matched assessment on prescription writing before and after the module, and a retrospective postsurvey then presurvey to collect perceptions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There was significant improvement in performance on error identification and demonstration of prescription elements from preassessment to postassessment (+17%, p < .001). The mean performance on both assessments was less than the 70% passing score. Students reported significant positive changes in perceptions, including all statements regarding their preparedness to prescribe and those addressing willingness to collaborate with pharmacists.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Formative education on prescribing enhanced students' understanding of safe and effective medication use with improved recognition and avoidance of prescribing errors, although it did not result in competency. Exposure to pharmacist expertise in this area may encourage collaboration in practice.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, Memorial Hospital Medication Therapies Center, Marysville, Ohio.
authors.forename: Jennifer A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Sabatino
authors.affiliation: Division of Pharmacy Practice and Science, The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy, Columbus, Ohio.
authors.forename: Maria C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Pruchnicki
authors.affiliation: Division of Pharmacy Practice and Science, The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy, Columbus, Ohio.
authors.forename: Alexa M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Sevin
authors.affiliation: College of Nursing, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio.
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Barker
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, Ohio.
authors.forename: Christopher G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Green
authors.affiliation: Center for Biostatistics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio.
authors.forename: Kyle
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Porter
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000451:nursing / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004511:Education, Nursing, Graduate / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004521:Educational Measurement / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009722:Nurse Practitioners / Q000193:education* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009820:Ohio; D010595:Pharmacists; D011446:Prospective Studies
keywords: Pharmacotherapy; advanced practice nurse; education; nurse practitioner; pharmacists; prescriptions; students