An Investigation on the Nature and Extent of Occurrence of Errors of Commission in Hospital Prescriptions

Correct prescription writing habits could have a great influence on the fate of drug therapy as well as the health of patients. One of the major types of errors in prescriptions is the "errors of commission". In this study attempts were made to examine 519 prescriptions of the internal ward of Ayatollah Taleghani teaching hospital over a period of 3 months in terms of the nature and extent of the errors of commission. In addition these prescriptions were also compared and contrasted with the actual clinical charts of relevant inpatients. Results showed that the most predominant error of commission is that due to ignoring drug interactions, noted in 18% of all prescriptions examined. The other major errors of commission noted in these prescriptions included mistakes in writing drug names or prescribing the correct dosage form, ignoring drug interactions occurring because of the condition of patients, and ignoring the side effects of drugs following administration. Furthermore, when comparing the clinical chart of inpatients with their prescriptions, discrepancies were noted. Here, the major problem was not mentioning the name of some of the drugs present within the prescription, in patients' clinical chart. In conclusion, it seems that educational programs are needed to be held for physicians and nursing staff in order to eliminate errors of commission. Careful examination of prescriptions by pharmacists and decisive interventions by them could also be critical in avoiding this type of prescription error.