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Table 3 Prescribing readiness of final- year medical students in a public and a private university

From: Development and validation of an instrument to assess the prescribing readiness of medical students in Malaysia

   Public university (n = 123) [%] Private university (n = 53) [%]  
Domain Item Too little About right Too much Too little About right Too much p-value
Undergraduate learning opportunities 1. Lectures on the basic pharmacology of drugs 10.6 83.7 5.7 42.6 51.9 5.6 <0.001*
2. Lectures on the use of drugs in clinical practice 50.4 49.6 0 72.2 25.9 1.9 0.006*
3. Small group tutorials about drugs and prescribing 72.4 26.8 0.8 90.7 9.3 0 0.024*
4. Problem based learning about drugs 73.2 24.4 2.4 75.9 24.1 0 0.507
5. Workshops on prescribing issues 74.6 24.6 0.8 85.2 14.8 0 0.267
6. Electronic learning opportunities 68.6 27.3 4.1 65.4 34.6 0 0.238
   0–5 times 6–10 times >10 times 0–5 times 6–10 times >10 times  
Hands-on clinical skills practice 7. Write up a hospital drug cardex 90.2 8.1 1.6 84.9 9.4 5.7 0.314
8. A teaching session on calculating drug doses 92.7 6.5 0.8 85.2 11.1 3.7 0.213
9. Set up a drug infusion pump 92.7 6.5 0.8 92.6 7.4 0 0.785
10. Prepare and give a parenteral drug injection 20.3 9.8 69.9 68.5 20.4 11.1 <0.001*
11. Set up and give a bag of intravenous fluid 60.2 22.8 17.1 54.7 18.9 26.4 0.355
   Never or yearly Monthly Weekly or daily Never or yearly Monthly Weekly or daily  
Information gathering behaviour 12. Web based resources 56.6 27.9 15.6 33.3 22.2 44.4 <0.001*
13. Online medical school resources 48.8 35.8 15.4 33.3 31.5 35.2 0.011*
14. Your own textbook 5.7 48.0 46.3 9.3 24.1 66.7 0.012*
15. Your own BNF or equivalent 41.3 28.4 30.3 17.0 30.2 52.8 0.004*
16. Library resources 82.1 13.7 4.3 31.4 33.3 35.3 <0.001*
  Factors Strongly disagree/disagree Somewhat agree Agree/ strongly agree Strongly disagree/ disagree Somewhat agree Agree/ strongly agree  
Factors affecting prescribing skills 17. No lecture or formal teaching on prescribing drugs 39.0 41.5 19.5 20.4 48.1 31.5 0.036*
18. Amount of knowledge on drugs needed to be learnt is too much during each clinical posting 39.3 32.0 28.7 33.3 31.5 35.2 0.645
19. Will not be questioned on prescribing drugs in the final examination 60.7 25.4 13.9 70.4 22.2 7.4 0.359
20. Many clinical teachers do not explain about their rationale for their choice of drugs prescribed 30.3 40.2 29.5 40.7 40.7 18.5 0.230
21. Not enough of reinforcement of pharmacology knowledge in the clinical years 12.3 50.0 37.7 20.8 41.5 37.7 0.310
22. Not necessary for me to know how to prescribe drugs before graduation 62.6 26.0 11.4 72.2 22.2 5.6 0.355
23. Lack of consensus among clinical teachers on drug prescribing 25.2 62.6 12.2 26.4 54.7 18.9 0.457
24. Preclinical learning on pharmacology didn’t have enough clinical relevance 26.0 35.0 39.0 27.8 37.0 35.2 0.889
25. No actual practice, experience or emphasis on prescribing in clinical years 10.6 43.1 46.3 22.2 42.6 35.2 0.095
26. Limited exposure to information that can help in making rational drug choice 40.7 43.9 15.4 31.5 46.3 22.2 0.394
  1. *Statistically significant at p < 0.05
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