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Prescribing errors involving medication dosage forms.

Timothy S Lesar1

  • 1Albany Medical Center, Albany, NY 12208, USA. lesart@mail.amc.edu

Journal of General Internal Medicine
|September 6, 2002
PubMed
Summary
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Medication prescribing errors involving dosage forms are common in hospitals, with over 1,100 detected. Failure to specify formulation type and incorrect administration routes pose risks for patients.

Area of Science:

  • Hospital Pharmacy
  • Patient Safety
  • Medication Errors

Background:

  • Prescribing errors involving medication dosage formulations are frequent in hospital settings.
  • Previous systematic evaluations of these specific error characteristics were lacking.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To quantify the characteristics and frequency of prescribing errors related to medication dosage forms.
  • To assess the potential adverse patient effects associated with these errors.

Main Methods:

  • A 60-month evaluation of all detected medication prescribing errors involving dosage forms was conducted.
  • The study was performed in a 631-bed tertiary care teaching hospital.
  • Error types, frequencies, and potential for adverse effects were analyzed.

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Main Results:

  • Over 1,100 clinically significant errors were identified during the study period.
  • The most common errors included failure to specify controlled release formulations (69.7%) and prescribing formulations for tube administration (11.9%).
  • A significant potential for adverse patient outcomes was noted, with 0.7% potentially fatal/severe and 12.2% serious, most frequently involving cardiovascular agents.

Conclusions:

  • Hospitalized patients face risks of adverse outcomes due to inappropriate medication dosage form prescribing.
  • The findings underscore the need for developing strategies to prevent such medication errors and improve patient safety.