Learning from errors: what is the return on investment from training medical students in incident review?

Abstract

Prescribing errors made by junior doctors are rare only due to lack of knowledge or technical skills. Final Year medical students were given the opportunity to investigate medication incidents involving junior doctors. However long-term sustainability of this activity requires evidence about return on investment for NHS Tayside who assist in supporting medical students. Kirkpatrick's model for evaluating training programmes has been adapted for evaluation of medical education. We address all four levels of Kirkpatrick's model for training medical students in incident reporting, discuss other models and emphasis the importance of return on investment. Examples of organizational learning highlighted in the pilot study suggest that incident review by medical students can provide fresh insights into achieving the “not-seeking-to-blame” culture. Incident Review is now a core activity for all final year medical students at the University of Dundee. Plans to engage with NHS Tayside in an iterative learning cycle that begins and ends with evaluation are underway.