British journal of clinical pharmacology
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1. Although rates of dispensing errors are generally low, further improvements in pharmacy distribution systems are still important because pharmacies dispense such high volumes of medications that even a low error rate can translate into a large number of errors. 2. ⋯ More and better studies are still needed in these areas. 3. More research is also required into: dispensing errors in out-patient health-care settings, such as community pharmacies in the USA and Europe; dispensing errors in hospitals and out-patient health-care settings in middle- and low-income countries; and the underlying causes of dispensing errors.
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Br J Clin Pharmacol · Jun 2009
ReviewMedication errors: problems and recommendations from a consensus meeting.
Here we discuss 15 recommendations for reducing the risks of medication errors: 1. Provision of sufficient undergraduate learning opportunities to make medical students safe prescribers. 2. Provision of opportunities for students to practise skills that help to reduce errors. 3. ⋯ Use of IT systems, when available, to provide methods of avoiding medication errors; standardization, proper evaluation, and certification of clinical information systems. 14. Nonjudgmental communication with patients about their concerns and elicitation of symptoms that they perceive to be adverse drug reactions. 15. Avoidance of defensive reactions if patients mention symptoms resulting from medication errors.
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1. Medication histories are important in preventing prescription errors and consequent risks to patients. Apart from preventing prescription errors, accurate medication histories are also useful in detecting drug-related pathology or changes in clinical signs that may be the result of drug therapy. ⋯ In the context of acute hospital admissions they reduce error, the risks of adverse drug reactions, and prescription costs. Electronic prescribing may reduce transcription errors, but it can facilitate other errors and still depends on an accurate medication history. 4. Education of prescribers, both in clinical pharmacology and in taking accurate medication histories is vitally important in reducing errors.
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1. Medication errors are common in general practice and in hospitals. Both errors in the act of writing (prescription errors) and prescribing faults due to erroneous medical decisions can result in harm to patients. 2. ⋯ The complexity of the prescribing procedure should be reduced by introducing automated systems or uniform prescribing charts, in order to avoid transcription and omission errors. Feedback control systems and immediate review of prescriptions, which can be performed with the assistance of a hospital pharmacist, are also helpful. Audits should be performed periodically.