Clinical Pharma (Peer replies)

POST # 1 REGINA

The purpose of this post is to discuss knowledge that I have gained from researching medication prescription errors as well as provide an example of a prescription.

A prescription can be handwritten or computerized and is a communication tool through which providers communicate with pharmacists or other healthcare professionals. Prescription errors are common and are often caused by distraction, provider hastiness, or careless provider attitude. These errors are either errors of omission (a prescription that is missing significant information) or commission 9a prescription with information that is incorrectly written). Most prescription errors are those of omission (Dyasanoor & Urooge, 2016).

Undoubtedly, medication errors can result in injury and or death. Recent research seems to indicate that there are fewer errors when scripts are written electronically versus handwritten especially in inpatient settings. However, any error is one too many and as such, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organization (JCAHCO) requires that organizations keep medication error records, review them to determine the cause in an effort to reduce future errors (Ababneh et al., 2020).

Prescription Example

Patient Name Jon Doe

Date of Birth 5/5/05

Date 8/30/20

RX: Simvastatin 20 mg

Sig: 1 tablet by mouth once daily

Disp: 30 tablets

References

Ababneh, M. A., Al, A. S. I., Alzoubi, K. H., & Rababa’h, A. M. (2020). Medication errors in outpatient pharmacies: comparison of an electronic and a paper‐based prescription system. Journal of Pharmaceutical Health Services Research, 11(3), 245–248. https://doi.org/10.1111/jphs.12356

Dyasanoor, S., & Urooge, A. (2016). Insight into quality of prescription writing - An institutional study. Journal of Clinical & Diagnostic Research, 10(3), 61–64. https://doi.org/10.7860/JCDR/2016/18011.7472