Development of Training System for New Pharmacists using Actual Prescriptions, and its Evaluation

The services pharmacists need to provide have been increasing and becoming more complex in recent years. In order to ensure a high level of competence among pharmacists who have just graduated from university, it is important that they undergo training that is both heterogeneous and experience-based. In this study, we developed training materials which make use of numerous prescriptions with queries to physicians raised by experienced pharmacists and used them in training for new pharmacists. We also evaluated the effectiveness of the materials by having the new pharmacists fill out a questionnaire. The system was developed over the five year period from April 1999 to June 2004 when 11000 prescriptions with queries were recorded. On analyzing 481 prescriptions collected from April to June in 2004, it was found that there were queries regarding dosage or dosage form in 280 prescriptions (58.2%), adverse effects or drug interactions in 50 prescriptions (10.4%), off-label drug use in 6 prescriptions (1.2%), and other problems in 62 prescriptions (12.9%).When twelve new pharmacists with less than 3 years experience studied the training materials by themselves and then filled out the questionnaire, they felt that they had learned the real risks of malpractice from the materials and said they often used the knowledge gained from them in daily dispensary inspections.We conclude that our training materials are useful for the training of new and inexperienced pharmacists.