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Use of an e-Learning Educational Module to Better Equip Doctors to Prescribe for Older Patients: A Randomised Controlled Trial

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Abstract

Background

The older patient population is significantly different from the younger adult population with regards to dose selection for a wide variety of drugs. Recent investigation of prescribing attitudes indicates that doctors feel there is insufficient distinction made between the two cohorts during their undergraduate education, and that doctors do not receive enough training in geriatric pharmacotherapy.

Objectives

The aim of this study was to determine if an online module, focused on geriatric pharmacotherapy, improves doctors’ prescribing knowledge, as well as prescribing confidence, as applied to older patients.

Methods

The impact of an online educational module (SCRIPT) on hospital doctors’ prescribing knowledge and confidence with regards to older patients was assessed by randomised controlled trial. Control and intervention groups completed assessments at baseline, 4 and 12 weeks. Primary outcome was difference in mean test scores. Student’s t tests were used to analyse the data. Qualitative data on participant’s confidence levels were also collected.

Results

Eighty participants completed the 12-week trial. The SCRIPT intervention resulted in a 22% difference in mean test scores between control and intervention groups at 4 weeks (23.12 marks versus 33.67 marks; p < 0.0001; 95% CI 8.13–12.97). This significance was maintained at 12 weeks. Thirty-four percent of participants in the intervention group rated themselves as ‘confident’ with regards to prescribing for older patients post-intervention compared with 12% in the control group.

Conclusion

A short e-learning module focused on geriatric pharmacotherapy can significantly improve doctors’ prescribing knowledge and confidence with regards to older patients.

Clinicaltrials.gov NCT02405975.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the staff of all the hospitals who took part in this study for their time and help with the recruitment process.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. RCSI School of Pharmacy, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, 1st Floor Ardilaun House Block B, 111 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland

    Shane Cullinan

  2. Department of Medicine, Cork University Hospital and School of Medicine, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland

    Denis O’Mahony

  3. Pharmaceutical Care Research Group, School of Pharmacy, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland

    Stephen Byrne

Authors
  1. Shane Cullinan
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  2. Denis O’Mahony
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  3. Stephen Byrne
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shane Cullinan.

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Funding

This work was supported by the SENATOR project which has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme [Grant Number 305930]. Sponsors played no role in the design, execution, analysis and interpretation of data, or the writing of the study.

Conflict of interest

Shane Cullinan, Denis O’Mahony and Stephen Byrne declare no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval

Ethics approval was sought from and granted by the Clinical Research Ethics Committee, University College Cork.

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Cullinan, S., O’Mahony, D. & Byrne, S. Use of an e-Learning Educational Module to Better Equip Doctors to Prescribe for Older Patients: A Randomised Controlled Trial. Drugs Aging 34, 367–374 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40266-017-0451-0

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