Keywords: inappropriate prescribing, learning, older people, primary care, tools, questionnaire

Introduction:

Pharmacotherapy is a fundamental competence for physicians, posing particular prescribing challenges in older people who often have multimorbidity. To support prescribers, screening tools for detecting potentially inappropriate prescribing have been developed. In this European collaborative study, we explore how these tools are used in medical education in primary care.

Method:

Since September 2025, physicians working in primary care across Europe have been invited by national collaborators to complete a survey on the use and integration of tools for detecting potentially inappropriate prescribing in practice. One topic explored is their application in undergraduate medical education and postgraduate specialist training. Herein, we analyse responses submitted by 31 December 2025 (26 countries; 322 responses, 1‒46 per country).

Results:

Overall, 237 (76%) physicians reported some degree of familiarity with the studied tools. Regarding undergraduate and postgraduate medical education, respectively, 24 (7%) and 39 (12%) physicians reported that these tools are used systematically, 82 (25%) and 109 (34%) that they are used occasionally, and 103 (32%) and 91 (28%) that they are not used. The remaining respondents either reported that they did not know or that they did not have medical students or resident physicians in their practice. In countries with ≥10 respondents, between 0% and 25% reported that the tools are systematically used as part of undergraduate education, and the corresponding range in postgraduate training was 0% to 33%. Overall, 233 (72%) and 264 (82%) physicians agreed that training in tools for detecting potentially inappropriate prescribing in older adults should be mandatory in undergraduate and postgraduate medical education, respectively.

Conclusions:

This study reveals limited and heterogeneous integration of screening tools for detecting potentially inappropriate prescribing in undergraduate and postgraduate medical education in European primary care. Since the majority of physicians recognise the value of these tools in educational contexts, further integration into medical education appears justified.