PCR037: Medical Students’ Experience with and Attitudes on Deprescribing

Nicole Curtis; Collin Clark, PharmD; Ranjit Singh, MD, MA, MBA, MBBChir; Huei-Yen Chen; Andrew Symons, MD, MS, FAAFP; Robert Wahler, BPharm, PharmD, BCGP, FASCP, CPE

Abstract

Context: Deprescribing is a term used to describe the identification and elimination of inappropriate medications to reduce harm and polypharmacy. While this activity has been common in elder care for decades, polypharmacy and inappropriate medication use remains common. Education has been identified as a key strategy to improve providers’ abilities to deprescribe, yet there is a paucity of literature studying this area. Objective: Describe medical students’ experience with and attitudes toward medication safety concepts and deprescribing training in medical education. Study Design: Setting or Dataset: Population studied: As part of a curricular improvement project, an online survey was designed and administered to fourth year medical students at the University at Buffalo (UB) Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. All medical students in the 4th medical year were invited to participate in the survey. Outcome Measures: A novel survey instrument was developed to assess students’ experience with and attitudes toward medication safety concepts and deprescribing training in medical education. Results: The overall response rate was 25.6% (46/180). Of 4 medication safety terms (medication reconciliation, polypharmacy, potentially inappropriate medications and deprescribing), deprescribing was least familiar with 10 (21.7%) disagreeing that they understood the term. The majority (95.7%) endorsed learning concepts related to potentially inappropriate medications and deprescribing during their third and fourth-year clinical clerkships and 15 (32.6%) in their didactic coursework within the first 2 years. Of those who responded to the item on future educational needs in deprescribing (n=39), 87.2% desired it to be delivered during their clerkships and 30.2% in the didactic curriculum. Conclusions: This study identifies an opportunity to improve medical students’ knowledge on deprescribing at our institution. The concept of deprescribing should be targeted as an experiential medical education goal. Students have indicated their desire for further education to be delivered during their clinical clerkship years versus their didactic curriculum. Future studies are needed to correlate students’ attitudes with performance in related tasks.
Leave a Comment
Dennis Baumgardner, MD
11/19/2021

Thanks for exploring this important topic!

Jack Westfall
jwestfall@aafp.org 11/20/2021

Thanks for your terrific work on this research. great poster and presentation. Hope we can connect.

Jessica Watson
jessica.watson@bristol.ac.uk 11/20/2021

Great poster on a really important topic!

Gillian Bartlett
gillian.bartlett@health.missouri.edu 11/23/2021

As a pharmacoepidemiologist working in primary care - I just want to say "YES !!!! MORE OF THIS PLEASE!!" Keep up the great work.

Ann Macaulay
ann.macaulay@mcgill.ca 11/23/2021

Such a VERY important topic - thanks

Andy Pasternak
avpiv711@sbcglobal.net 11/28/2021

Good to see this being taught/researched with students

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