[Pharmaceutical care strategies to prevent medication errors].

Area of Science:

• Hospital Pharmacy
• Patient Safety
• Medication Error Reduction

Background:

• The quality of pharmaceutical care and unit-dose distribution systems significantly impacts patient outcomes.
• Medication errors remain a critical concern in inpatient settings, necessitating improved safety protocols.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the effectiveness of new programs aimed at enhancing pharmaceutical care quality.
• To evaluate the impact of a ward pharmacist and a new dispensing protocol on reducing medication errors.

Main Methods:

• An observational, prospective study conducted over two six-month periods in a general hospital.
• Evaluation of transcription and dispensing errors across twelve wards.
• Introduction of a reference ward-pharmacist and a medication checking protocol on wards.

Main Results:

• Transcription errors decreased significantly in specific units (gynaecology-urology, orthopaedics, neurology-pneumology) with ward pharmacist implementation.
• Dispensing errors were reduced only in units utilizing the new medication checking protocol.
• Units without a dedicated ward pharmacist showed no improvement in transcription error rates.

Conclusions:

• Pharmacist involvement in multidisciplinary teams is crucial for improving patient safety.
• Comprehensive protocols for medication dispensing effectively detect and reduce medication errors in hospital settings.