Studies of prescribing errors from pharmaceutical services for in-patients of a general hospital

Authors

  • Khanitta Potjanabunpot Department of Pharmacy, Queen SavangVadhana Memorial Hospital, Chonburi, Thailand
  • Awatsaya Topattanakul Department of Pharmacy, Queen SavangVadhana Memorial Hospital, Chonburi, Thailand

Keywords:

ความคลาดเคลื่อนจากการสั่งใช้ยา, ผู้ป่วยใน

Abstract

Introduction: Prescribing errors are events that may lead to the inappropriate or harmful use of medication by patients. Additionally, such errors are one of many quality indicators for hospitals. Analyzing these incidents reveals not only the frequency of errors made, but can also signal causes in prescribing errors that need correction.

Objective: To study the rate of occurrence and analyze the causes of prescribing errors.

Methods: This descriptive study extracted data from physician’s orders as recorded in the hospital computer system during office hours from 1 September 2023 - 29 February 2024. The data were collected in medication error report forms for statistical analysis.

Results: A total of 549 prescribing errors were recorded. The five most common errors were supra-therapeutic dosages (186 times, 33.88%), sub-therapeutic dosages (118 times, 21.49%), cases of the wrong drug (114 times, 20.77%), the need for additional drug therapy (45 times, 8.20%), and duplicate drug treatments (22 times, 4.01%).

Conclusion: According to the study, the most common prescribing errors were high dosages. Therefore, provision of strategies should be established to develop a system that prevents prescribing errors, along with a program to continuously collect data, monitoring the system’s effectiveness as more improvements are made.

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Published

26-06-2025

How to Cite

1.
Potjanabunpot K, Topattanakul A. Studies of prescribing errors from pharmaceutical services for in-patients of a general hospital. ฺBu J Med [internet]. 2025 Jun. 26 [cited 2026 Jan. 24];12(1):63-7. available from: https://he01.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/BJmed/article/view/272651

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Original article