Prescribing errors

Learning from prescribing errors.

The importance of learning from medical error has recently received increasing emphasis. This paper focuses on prescribing errors and argues that, while learning from prescribing errors is a laudable goal, there are currently barriers that can prevent this occurring. Learning from errors can take place on an individual level, at a team level, and across an organisation. Barriers to learning fro...

Paediatric prescribing errors.

Prescribing errors are particularly important in paediatrics where dose calculations are complicated and small errors can cause significant harm. Unfortunately, there is no generally agreed definition of what constitutes an error, so studies often use differing criteria. In addition to this, obtaining statistics on rates of error is problematic as staff may be reluctant to report errors or may ...

Prescribing Errors What ’ s the Story ?

Although prescribing errors are one of the most common causes of preventable iatrogenic injury, there have been relatively few studies of their incidence and causes. The majority of the studies that have been carried out have been based in secondary care. This paper reviews what is currently known about prescribing errors. It is suggested that prescribing errors occur in at least 1-2% of all me...

Errors associated with outpatient computerized prescribing systems

OBJECTIVE To report the frequency, types, and causes of errors associated with outpatient computer-generated prescriptions, and to develop a framework to classify these errors to determine which strategies have greatest potential for preventing them. MATERIALS AND METHODS This is a retrospective cohort study of 3850 computer-generated prescriptions received by a commercial outpatient pharmacy...

Minimising prescribing errors in the ICU