What is the Prescribing Skills Assessment Project all about?
Why is an assessment of this kind needed?
What knowledge and skills will the Prescribing Skills Assessment test?
What will the assessment look like and how long will it last?
At what point in my medical course will I need to take the assessment?
Will I need to pass the assessment?
What happens if I fail?
How is the assessment being developed and piloted?
When will the assessment be implemented as part of all UK undergraduate programmes?
Who is involved in developing the assessment?

What is the Prescribing Skills Assessment Project all about?
The aim of the project is to develop a reliable and valid assessment of prescribing skills for final medical students to ensure that graduates are safe and competent prescribers.

Why is an assessment of this kind needed?
Prescribing is a fundamental part of the work of Foundation year one doctors, who write and review many prescriptions each day. It is a complex task requiring knowledge of medicines and the diseases they are used to treat, careful judgement of risks and benefits of treatment, and attention to detail. It is also apparent that this is the area of the Foundation Doctor role that new graduates find the most challenging.

What knowledge and skills will the Prescribing Skills Assessment test?
The aim is not to assess anything over and above the outcomes required of graduates in Tomorrow’s Doctors (2009). Each item will assess a key prescribing skill as outlined in Tomorrow’s Doctors (2009), such as writing a prescription. The content of each item will be relevant to the prescribing tasks expected of an F1 doctor, i.e. the questions will refer to ailments and drugs that you are likely to be dealing with in Foundation year one.  You will be able to refer to a copy of the BNF at any point during the assessment.

What will the assessment look like and how long will it last?
The ultimate goal is to create an online assessment. The question styles are still being developed and will vary slightly depending on what skill is being assessed; some will ask you to ‘write’ an appropriate prescription for a given problem, others will ask you to choose the most appropriate option(s) from a list. It is expected that the assessment will last around one hour.

At what point in my medical course will I need to take the assessment?
The assessment being developed is to be undertaken in your final year of medical school at a time decided by your medical school.

Will I need to pass the assessment?
The proposed assessment is pass/fail and when it is fully in place students will be required to pass the assessment prior to graduation.

What happens if I fail?
If you fail the assessment there will be opportunities to retake. If you fail the assessment twice your medical school will provide further training and support in prescribing before retaking the assessment.

How is the assessment being developed and piloted?
A paper based assessment was piloted in 11 medical schools involving over 1300 medical students, during spring/ summer 2010.  Piloting will continue and decisions around implementation will be based on consensus and evidence. It is intended that an online pilot of the Prescribing Skills Assessment will be carried out during 2011/12 by all final year medical students in the UK. This will be  a pilot assessment and your performance will not impact on ability to graduate.

When will the assessment be implemented as part of all UK undergraduate programmes?
Currently, there is no set date for implementation. The Prescribing Skills Assessment will only be implemented after it has been fully piloted and evaluated.

Who is involved in developing the assessment?
A cross sector Steering Group, which includes a student representative from the BMA, is managing the development of the Prescribing Skills Assessment. This will enable key stakeholders, including medical students, to be involved in the development of the assessment and the associated policies and processes. The Steering Group is also responsible for recruiting experts to write and review assessment items and for developing quality assurance processes.