LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Many doctors take on prescribing responsibilities shortly after they graduate [1, 2], but fnal-year medical students not only feel insecure about prescribing, but also lack adequate knowledge and skills to prescribe rationally and safely [3, 4]. To address this public health concern, the European Association for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (EACPT) recommended that education in clinical pharmacology and therapeutics (CP&T) in Europe should be modernized and harmonized [5]. The frst step towards harmonization was taken in 2018 when CP&T experts reached consensus on the key learning outcomes for CP&T education in Europe [6]. The next step was to assess these outcomes in a uniform examination during undergraduate medical training [7–9]. The Prescribing Safety Assessment (United Kingdom) and the Dutch National Pharmacotherapy Assessment (The Netherlands) are currently the only national CP&T examinations [10–13]. Implementing these examinations in other European countries is difcult because of related costs and diferences in available drugs and guidelines. Therefore, in 2019, together with nine European universities, the EACPT, and the World Health Organization Europe, we started a 3-year Erasmus+-project (2019–1-NL01-KA203-060,492) to develop, test and implement an online examination on safe prescribing for medical schools in Europe: “The European Prescribing Exam” (EuroPE+, https://www.prescribingeducation.eu/). The aim of The European Prescribing Exam is to ensure that medical students in Europe graduate with prescribing competencies for safe and efective clinical practice. During the frst stage of the project, we established that EuroPE+ should focus not only on safe prescribing (e.g. contraindications, interactions) but also on broader aspects of CP&T (e.g. deprescribing, communication, personalized medicine). We identifed 43 main learning objectives and 299 attainment targets, based on previous European studies of CP&T education and the Dutch National Pharmacotherapy Assessment [6, 14, 15]. The attainment targets concern eight drug groups that junior doctors should be confdent about prescribing because these drugs are commonly prescribed or are a major cause of adverse events [16]
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ABSTRACT Introduction Junior doctors are responsible for a substantial number of prescribing errors, and final-year medical students lack sufficient prescribing knowledge and skills just before they graduate. Various national and international projects have been initiated to reform the teaching of clinical pharmacology and therapeutics (CP&T) during undergraduate medical training. However, there is as yet no list of commonly prescribed and available medicines that European doctors should be able to independently prescribe safely and effectively without direct supervision. Such a list could form the basis for a European Prescribing Exam and would harmonise European CP&T education. Therefore, the aim of this study is to reach consensus on a list of widely prescribed medicines, available in most European countries, that European junior doctors should be able to independently prescribe safely and effectively without direct supervision: the European List of Essential Medicines for Medical Education. Methods and analysis This modified Delphi study will recruit European CP&T teachers (expert group). Two Delphi rounds will be carried out to enable a list to be drawn up of medicines that are available in ≥80% of European countries, which are considered standard prescribing practice, and which junior doctors should be able to prescribe safely and effectively without supervision. Ethics and dissemination The study has been approved by the Medical Ethics Review Committee of VU University Medical Center (no. 2020.335) and by the Ethical Review Board of the Netherlands Association for Medical Education (approved project no. NVMO‐ERB 2020.4.8). The European List of Essential Medicines for Medical Education will be presented at national and international conferences and will be submitted to international peer-reviewed journals. It will also be used to develop and implement the European Prescribing Exam.
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Rational prescribing is essential for the quality of health care. However, many final-year medical students and junior doctors lack prescribing competence to perform this task. The availability of a list of medicines that a junior doctor working in Europe should be able to independently prescribe safely and effectively without supervision could support and harmonize teaching and training in clinical pharmacology and therapeutics (CPT) in Europe. Therefore, our aim was to achieve consensus on such a list of medicines that are widely accessible in Europe. For this, we used a modified Delphi study method consisting of three parts. In part one, we created an initial list based on a literature search. In part two, a group of 64 coordinators in CPT education, selected via the Network of Teachers in Pharmacotherapy of the European Association for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, evaluated the accessibility of each medicine in his or her country, and provided a diverse group of experts willing to participate in the Delphi part. In part three, 463 experts from 24 European countries were invited to participate in a 2-round Delphi study. In total, 187 experts (40%) from 24 countries completed both rounds and evaluated 416 medicines, 98 of which were included in the final list. The top three Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical code groups were (1) cardiovascular system (n = 23), (2) anti-infective (n = 21), and (3) musculoskeletal system (n = 11). This European List of Key Medicines for Medical Education could be a starting point for country-specific lists and could be used for the training and assessment of CPT.
The project aims to improve palliative care in China through the competence development of Chinese teachers, professionals, and students focusing on the horizontal priority of digital transformation.Palliative care (PC) has been recognised as a public health priority, and during recent years, has seen advances in several aspects. However, severe inequities in the access and availability of PC worldwide remain. Annually, approximately 56.8 million people need palliative care, where 25.7% of the care focuses on the last year of person’s life (Connor, 2020).China has set aims for reaching the health care standards of the developed countries by 2030 through the Healthy China Strategy 2030, where one of the improvement areas in health care includes palliative care, thus continuing the previous efforts.The project provides a constructive, holistic, and innovative set of actions aimed at resulting in lasting outcomes and continued development of palliative care education and services. Raising the awareness of all stakeholders on palliative care, including the public, is highly relevant and needed. Evidence based practice guidelines and education are urgently required for both general and specialised palliative care levels, to increase the competencies for health educators, professionals, and students. This is to improve the availability and quality of person-centered palliative care in China. Considering the aging population, increase in various chronic illnesses, the challenging care environment, and the moderate health care resources, competence development and the utilisation of digitalisation in palliative care are paramount in supporting the transition of experts into the palliative care practice environment.General objective of the project is to enhance the competences in palliative care in China through education and training to improve the quality of life for citizens. Project develops the competences of current and future health care professionals in China to transform the palliative care theory and practice to impact the target groups and the society in the long-term. As recognised by the European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC), palliative care competences need to be developed in collaboration. This includes shared willingness to learn from each other to improve the sought outcomes in palliative care (EAPC 2019). Since all individuals have a right to health care, project develops person-centered and culturally sensitive practices taking into consideration ethics and social norms. As concepts around palliative care can focus on physical, psychological, social, or spiritual related illnesses (WHO 2020), project develops innovative pedagogy focusing on evidence-based practice, communication, and competence development utilising digital methods and tools. Concepts of reflection, values and views are in the forefront to improve palliative care for the future. Important aspects in project development include health promotion, digital competences and digital health literacy skills of professionals, patients, and their caregivers. Project objective is tied to the principles of the European Commission’s (EU) Digital Decade that stresses the importance of placing people and their rights in the forefront of the digital transformation, while enhancing solidarity, inclusion, freedom of choice and participation. In addition, concepts of safety, security, empowerment, and the promotion of sustainable actions are valued. (European Commission: Digital targets for 2030).Through the existing collaboration, strategic focus areas of the partners, and the principles of the call, the PalcNet project consortium was formed by the following partners: JAMK University of Applied Sciences (JAMK ), Ramon Llull University (URL), Hanze University of Applied Sciences (HUAS), Beijing Union Medical College Hospital (PUMCH), Guangzhou Health Science College (GHSC), Beihua University (BHU), and Harbin Medical University (HMU). As project develops new knowledge, innovations and practice through capacity building, finalisation of the consortium considered partners development strategy regarding health care, (especially palliative care), ability to create long-term impact, including the focus on enhancing higher education according to the horizontal priority. In addition, partners’ expertise and geographical location was also considered important to facilitate long-term impact of the results.Primary target groups of the project include partner country’s (China) staff members, teachers, researchers, health care professionals and bachelor level students engaging in project implementation. Secondary target groups include those groups who will use the outputs and results and continue in further development in palliative care upon the lifetime of the project.
Studenten in het beroepsonderwijs leren op de werkplek om een goede beroepsuitoefenaar te worden. Beoordeling van het werkplekleren gebeurt vaak op de werkplek en door de werkplek. Dit promotieonderzoek wil in kaart brengen hoe werkplekopleiders de student beoordelen.Doel Het doel van dit promotieonderzoek is om het beoordelingsproces van werkplekopleiders in kaart te brengen en te analyseren. Door inzichten over dit proces te ontwikkelen en de huidige praktijk te analyseren willen we sterke en zwakke kanten van dit proces identificeren om zo bij te kunnen dragen aan de ondersteuning van werkplekopleiders. Implementatie Op basis van de resultaten van dit promotieonderzoek kunnen interventies ontwikkeld worden waarmee beoordelaars ondersteund kunnen worden in het beoordelen van het functioneren van studenten in de beroepspraktijk. Resultaten Ronde tafel-presentatie (2017). Beroepsbekwaamheid beoordelen: zicht krijgen op beslissingsprocessen van beoordelaars op de werkplek. Onderwijs Research Dagen 2017 Paperpresentatie (2017). Supervisor assessment of performance at the workplace in vocational education deconstructed. European Conference of Assessment in Medical Education 2017 Paperpresentatie (2018). Understanding how educators at the workplace reach judgements when assessing students’ professional performance. European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction – Special Interest Group 1 2018 Proefschrift (2023) met titel Understanding how workplace educators assess student performance (verdediging 30 juni 2023). Looptijd 01 september 2016 - 01 september 2020 Aanpak Dit promotieonderzoek betreft een samenwerking tussen de OU en het lectoraat Beroepsonderwijs. De promotor vanuit de OU is prof. dr. Elly de Bruijn (ook lector Beroepsonderwijs), en de co-promotor vanuit het lectoraat Beroepsonderwijs is dr. Liesbeth Baartman. Tijdens dit promotieonderzoek nemen we interviews af en doen we een literatuurreview om in beeld te brengen wat er al bekend is in theorie en praktijk. Daarna doen we een longitudinale case study om het beoordelingsproces van werkplekopleiders gedurende de stage in kaart te brengen.
Studenten in het beroepsonderwijs leren op de werkplek om een goede beroepsuitoefenaar te worden. Beoordeling van het werkplekleren gebeurt vaak op de werkplek en door de werkplek. Dit promotieonderzoek wil in kaart brengen hoe werkplekopleiders de student beoordelen.Doel Het doel van dit promotieonderzoek is om het beoordelingsproces van werkplekopleiders in kaart te brengen en te analyseren. Door inzichten over dit proces te ontwikkelen en de huidige praktijk te analyseren willen we sterke en zwakke kanten van dit proces identificeren om zo bij te kunnen dragen aan de ondersteuning van werkplekopleiders. Implementatie Op basis van de resultaten van dit promotieonderzoek kunnen interventies ontwikkeld worden waarmee beoordelaars ondersteund kunnen worden in het beoordelen van het functioneren van studenten in de beroepspraktijk. Resultaten Ronde tafel-presentatie (2017). Beroepsbekwaamheid beoordelen: zicht krijgen op beslissingsprocessen van beoordelaars op de werkplek. Onderwijs Research Dagen 2017 Paperpresentatie (2017). Supervisor assessment of performance at the workplace in vocational education deconstructed. European Conference of Assessment in Medical Education 2017 Paperpresentatie (2018). Understanding how educators at the workplace reach judgements when assessing students’ professional performance. European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction – Special Interest Group 1 2018 Proefschrift (2023) met titel Understanding how workplace educators assess student performance (verdediging 30 juni 2023). Looptijd 01 september 2016 - 01 september 2020 Aanpak Dit promotieonderzoek betreft een samenwerking tussen de OU en het lectoraat Beroepsonderwijs. De promotor vanuit de OU is prof. dr. Elly de Bruijn (ook lector Beroepsonderwijs), en de co-promotor vanuit het lectoraat Beroepsonderwijs is dr. Liesbeth Baartman. Tijdens dit promotieonderzoek nemen we interviews af en doen we een literatuurreview om in beeld te brengen wat er al bekend is in theorie en praktijk. Daarna doen we een longitudinale case study om het beoordelingsproces van werkplekopleiders gedurende de stage in kaart te brengen.
