title: Teaching rational prescribing to general practice registrars: A guide for supervisors.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Pharmaceuticals play an important role in modern day healthcare, and prescribing is a very common activity in Australian general practice. However, there are significant harms associated with medicine use. Vocational training is a critical period in the development of clinical practice patterns for the future general practitioner (GP), including prescribing behaviour. The general practice supervisor, therefore, has a key role to play in educating registrars about rational prescribing.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  In this article, we discuss a range of practical strategies for general practice supervisors to use when teaching their registrars rational prescribing in the practice setting.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Teaching rational prescribing should take on a patient-centred focus and incorporate an approach to managing uncertainty. Role-modelling of quality prescribing and use of guidelines is a strong influence on registrar behaviour. Specific strategies include random case analysis, audit and feedback of prescribing practice, topic tutorials and use of specific prescribing resources.
authors.affiliation: MBBS, MPH, FRACGP, General Practitioner and Medical Educator, General Practice Training - Valley to Coast, Newcastle, NSW.
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Morgan
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001315:Australia; D002983:Clinical Competence; D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000592:standards*; D005194:Family Practice / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D058007:Physicians, Primary Care / Q000193:education*; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013810:Therapeutic Equivalency