Prevalence and Characteristics of Drug Prescribing Errors in Discharged Patients of a Tertiary Hospital in 2014

Abstract

Objecive:To determine the prevalence and characteristics of prescribing errors in discharged patients of a tertiary hospital in 2014. Methods: This descriptive study retrospectively collected the data from reporting system for drug prescribing errors in discharged patients during January 1 to December 31, 2014. The collected data included type of prescribed errors in terms of instruction for drug use (dose and frequency), strength, name, numbers of drug items, dosage forms, amount of drugs, prescribing for wrong patients, inpatient wards where the errors were identified, drug categories in organ system of drug involved in the errors, whether the involved drugs were High Alert Drugs (HAD). Results: Rate of prescribing error was 2.25% of the total number of drug items examined (2,469 from 109,694 items).  Pediatrics wards had the highest percentage of prescribing errors, compared to the other wards, with 3.38% of errors (200 from 5,923 drug items examined). The most common type of prescribing errors was wrong dose and frequency (70.11% of the identified errors). This pattern was found in every patient ward. Drug group with highest percentage of prescribing errors was central nervous system agents (19.64% of the total errors). HAD-involving errors accounted for 3.69% of the identified errors with the highest frequency in warfarin oral tablets (70.33% of HAD-involving errors) and in terms of doses and frequency of use. Conclusion: The most common type of prescribing errors in every patient wards and drug categories and in the prescribing of HAD was “wrong dose and frequency”. Therefore, the hospital should set up a surveillance system for home medication prescribing errors in all patients, especially those on the instruction for “dose and frequency” in order to reduce the problem. Moreover, the hospital The hospital should investigate factors contributing to prescribing errors.