A Prospective Study on Role of Doctor of Pharmacy/Clinical Pharmacist in Identification, Reporting and Minimization of Medication Errors in Drug Dispensary (Outpatient Unit) of an ESI Hospital

Abstract

The aim of present prospective study was to assess the role of clinical pharmacist/doctor of pharmacy in the identification, reporting and minimization of drug errors in dispensary department of ESI Hospital, Bengaluru, India. A prospective, observational, non-interventional study was conducted at the department of ESI Hospital, Bengaluru, for a period of six months from October 2018 to March 2019. All patient-related information was collected as per case record form. Among these 300 patients, 157 (52.4%) were males and 143 (47.5%) were females. The number of prescriptions with medication errors (MEs) in different departments include 55 in General Medicine, 42 in Pulmonary Medicine, 38 in Pediatric, and 32 in Obstetrics and Gynecology. Out of 300 patients, 220 were prescription errors (PEs). Majority of them (195) were inappropriate selection of medicine. Nearly a total of 120 medication administration errors (AEs) were observed; out of these, 48 were incorrect dose administration, 37 were due to inaccurate dosing intervals and the wrong route of administration was detected in 22. The total percentage of PEs in 220 numbers of prescriptions was found to be 76. Most of the errors (76) are due to drug-drug interactions. Out of analyzing 300 prescriptions, it was found that there were 10% drug-drug interaction, 2.8% not clear to read, in 2.8% of the age of patient was not written, 36 were poorly written medication order, no date was written in seven, and 17 were written in bad handwriting which made it difficult to read.

Keywords: Medication error (ME), adverse effects, prospective study, drug dispensary, general medicine

Cite this Article

Anis Seifouri, Mekkanti Manasa Rekha, Sushma Muchukota, Rinku Mathappan. A Prospective Study on Role of Doctor of Pharmacy/Clinical Pharmacist in Identification, Reporting and Minimization of Medication Errors in Drug Dispensary (Outpatient Unit) of an ESI Hospital. Research & Reviews: Journal of Medicine. 2019; 9(3): 10–19p.