Abstract
Prescribing errors are common. Available data on these errors, particularly in family community centers in Saudi Arabia, presents a problem that must be addressed. The aim of this study is to investigate the rate and types of prescribing errors at an ambulatory care setting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Data were collected to cover a 12-month period. A prospective review of hand-written prescriptions was made by a trained pharmacist to identify any potential errors therein. The main outcome measure was quantifiable rate and types of prescribing errors. A total of 177,406 prescriptions were scanned wherein 481 (0.27%) prescriptions consisted of at least one error for a total of 510 (0.09%) prescribing errors during the 12-month period of the study. The most common errors were: (1) inappropriate dosage and (2) inappropriate treatment. The uncommon errors consisted of: (1) incorrect drug, (2) incorrect strength, and (3) incorrect duration. All errors were corrected before the prescription reached the corresponding patient. Most errors were made during early morning hours. Lastly, the frequency of errors was highest with prescriptions relating to antidiabetics. Although the rate of prescribing errors in the subject family community center was not frequent, continuous education and monitoring is needed to limit such errors. Key words: Prescribing error, rate, family community, primary care, Riyadh  
Highlights
According to Dean et al (2000), “a clinically meaningful prescribing error occurs when, as a result of a prescribing decision or prescription writing process, there is an unintentional significant reduction in the probability of treatment being timely and effective or an increase in the risk of harm when compared with generally accepted practice” (Dean et al, 2000)
It consists of 15 different types of clinics (Table 1) that continuously provide a comprehensive range of professional medical services located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
The median age of patients presented with prescribing errors was 49 years old
Summary
According to Dean et al (2000), “a clinically meaningful prescribing error occurs when, as a result of a prescribing decision or prescription writing process, there is an unintentional significant reduction in the probability of treatment being timely and effective or an increase in the risk of harm when compared with generally accepted practice” (Dean et al, 2000). Previous studies on prescribing errors indicated that these errors were identified in 7.5% of all prescribed items (Shah et al, 2001) Research focused on this issue is, deemed important because of the high number of medications provided during visits to ambulatory centers. A recent systematic review on medication error incidents in the Gulf area included 17 articles on prescribing errors published between 2005 and 2016 (Alsaidan et al, 2018). These papers covered both outpatient and inpatient settings as well as primary care centers.
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