Outcomes of Process for Reducing Prescribing Errors in Patients to Control Blood Pressure at Thalang Hospital’s Hypertension Clinic in Phuket Province

Abstract

The purpose of this study were to (1) compare the incidence of prescribing errors and the blood pressure (B.P.) of patients in experimental group before and after using the process for reducing the prescribing errors, (2) compare the incidence of prescribing errors and B.P. of patients in the experimental and the control groups after using the error reduction process, and (3) study the health behaviors associated with hypertention in the patients with uncontrolled B.P. after using the error reduction process at Thalang Hospital’s hypertension clinic in Phuket province. The study was conduced in a sample of 472 hypertensive patients selected using the simple random sampling method; the patients were divided into two groups, 236 each for experimental and control purposes. And the descriptive study was carried out in 137 hypertensive patients with uncontrolled B.P. after using the error reduction process, including 71 in the experimental group and 66 in the control group. The error reduction process included 4 stages and data were collected using an interview. The research instruments experimental study were an operating manual for reducing prescribing errors, a prescribing error reduction form, and the descriptive study was a structured interview form on health behaviors associated with hypertension. Frequency, percentage, means, standard deviation, Wilcoxon Signed Rank test, and Mann - Whitney U test were determined or used in statistical analysis and content analysis. The results showed that: (1) in the experimental group, before and after using the prescribing error reduction process, the incidence of prescribing errors were signifcantly different at the 0.05 level, but systolic and diastolic BP levels were not different; (2) in both experimental and control groups, after using the error reduction process, the incidence of prescribing errors were signifcantly different at the 0.05 level, their systolic B.P. levels were also signifcantly different at the 0.05 level, but their diastolic B.P. levels were not different; and (3) for those with uncontrolled B.P. in the experimental group, their health behaviors associated with hypertension were inadequate sleeping or rest, salty/high-fat diet consumption, and physical inactivity; however, their behaviors related to alcohol, tobacco and drug use, mental health and healthcare when ill were good; but the overall health behaviors in the control group were slightly better than those in the experimental group.