Małgorzata Król, Klaudyna Kosińska
Błędy lekowe w aptekach ogólnodostępnych - analiza
2007-07-26
Medication errors in community pharmacies - an analysis. According to the report To err is human: building a safer health system published by Institute of Medicine medication errors are among the most common medical errors and the leading cause of death. However, there is little evidence relating to dispensing errors and near misses occurring in pharmacies. This study sought to determine their nature and causes. Methods: 455 pharmacists in community pharmacies recorded details of all incidents that occurred during the dispensing process over a 4-week period. Results: 1726 errors were reported, of which 20% were classified as serious, health threatening. Pharmacist fatigue, illegible handwriting, stress, similar or confusing drug names and noise were principal contributing factors. Conclusion: We need to implement systems to discover and analyse different types of medication errors to prevent them early enough.