(316) Management of Complex Medication Regimens and the Universal Medication Schedule: An Interprofessional Skills Lab

Objective : To assess knowledge of the Universal Medication Schedule (UMS) among medical and pharmacy students completing their didactic courses before clerkships and Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences.

Methods: Second-year medical students (M2) and third-year pharmacy students (P3) were presented with seven fictional medications with complex directions for a hypothetical patient. Using “hot spot” questions in Qualtrics (Qualtrics, Provo, UT), students indicated in any of 24 slots (representing each of the 24 hours of the day) when they would tell the patient to take each medication. After the activity, the investigators discussed the UMS and how to optimize medication regimens. The investigators analyzed the submitted “pill boxes” to determine how many students consolidated the regimens to the UMS ( < 5 time points), the total number of times per day the students directed the patient to take their
medications, and the number of frequency-related errors.

Results: In total, 144 M2s and 62 P3s completed the activity, and 28.26% of all students consolidated the regimen to the UMS. More P3s consolidated the regimen to the UMS than M2s (30.64% vs 27.08%, p=.602). The M2s simplified the regimen to 5.340 time points in 24 hours, and the P3s simplified the regimen to 5.226 time points (p=.47). Significantly more frequency-related errors were made by the M2s than P3s (p <.0001).

Conclusions: Pharmacy students have experience with medication regimens through technician work, skills labs, and coursework, so they may be able to simplify complex medication regimens more effectively and with fewer errors than medical students. However, since medical students will be responsible for writing prescriptions for patients with potentially complex regimens, it is important that they learn about the UMS.