A prescription analysis exercise in a pharmaceutical care laboratory course.

Objective: To assess the impact of a new prescription analysis exercise in a second-year pharmaceutical care laboratory course.

Design: A new prescription analysis exercise was created and implemented that shifted the focus from strictly identifying errors and omissions to identifying and correcting them. Students used electronic label templates and mock prescription materials to correct various errors and omissions commonly seen in practice.

Assessment: Forty-one percent of students received full credit for the exercise using the new method compared to the previous method where 9.1% of students received full credit. Ninety-four percent of respondents preferred the new method versus the original method, with reasons given including the new method seemed more practical, applicable, and realistic.

Conclusion: The new prescription analysis exercise addressed many inconsistencies noted with the original method. Students performed better on graded assessments using the new method and preferred it over the old method of prescription analysis.