Identifying errors in handwritten outpatient prescriptions in oman

Area of Science:

• Pharmaceutical Sciences
• Health Services Research
• Clinical Pharmacy

Background:

• Handwritten prescriptions are a critical communication tool in healthcare.
• Errors in prescriptions can lead to medication-related harm.
• Omission errors are a common type of prescription error.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate and analyze handwritten outpatient prescriptions.
• To identify and quantify errors of omission in prescriptions from Omani hospitals.

Main Methods:

• Observational, retrospective study design.
• Analysis of 900 handwritten prescriptions collected between April 2009 and July 2010.
• Prescriptions were analyzed for omissions in superscription, inscription, and subscription components.

Main Results:

• High rates of omission errors were observed, particularly for patient age (72.44%) and gender (32.66%).
• Incomplete directions for use (46%), missing dose information (22%), and omitted dosage forms (23%) were frequent.
• All prescriptions lacked dispensing dates, and many omitted dispenser signatures (44%), prescriber signatures (4%), and prescription dates (18%).

Conclusions:

• Handwritten prescriptions in Oman are associated with a significant frequency of minor and major omission errors.
• These findings underscore the need for interventions to improve the completeness and accuracy of handwritten prescriptions.
• Addressing these errors is crucial for enhancing patient safety and medication management.