Abstract
Handwritten prescription errors are worldwide common problem. We investigated the types and extent of prescription errors in three cities of Bangladesh. Total 900 outpatient prescriptions were surveyed following the guidelines of WHO and BNF. Prescription errors in superscription, inscription and subscription were analyzed by Microsoft Excel 2010. About 73% patients visited MBBS and 8% BDS doctors. The male outpatients (55%) were slightly higher than female (45%). Commonly found errors of prescription were in superscription part, i.e. gender (64.33%), age (17.67%) and name (5%) of the patients. In inscription part, most common error was the direction for drug use (42%) followed by the dosage regimens (28%), doses (26%), and dosage forms (12.67%) of the drug. In subscription part, illegible handwriting was most common (46%) followed by the prescribers’ sign (10.67%) and date (4%). In a single prescription, averagely 3 and maximally 8 drugs were found to be prescribed. Most frequently prescribed drugs were antibiotics (18.25%) followed by antacids (17.45%) and NSAIDS (13.60%). Errors in handwritten prescriptions are the primary causes of treatment failure in Bangladesh. More professional care by the prescribers’ and the inclusion of pharmacists in hospital can only reduce the errors and assure safer health.
Highlights
Writing prescription is an important skill of a doctor which needs sound medical knowledge about diseases and drugs
We investigated the types and extent of prescription errors in three cities of Bangladesh
Results were expressed graphically in percentages, means and standard deviations (SD). Epidemiology This survey based study conducted in three cities of Bangladesh viz. Rajshahi, Naogaon, and Bogra, revealed that about 55% of outpatients were males and 45% were females
Summary
Writing prescription is an important skill of a doctor which needs sound medical knowledge about diseases and drugs. One of the reasons of the undesired health care system in Bangladesh is prescription errors. Prescription, an order written by doctors for patients, contains directions for pharmacists to compound or/and dispense medications regarding patients’ consumption (Tripathi, 2008). (c) subscription which gives the directions to the pharmacists for compounding and dispensing, (d) transcription/signature which gives instructions to the patient on how, how much, when, how long the drug is to be taken (Haavik et al, 2011). Prescription errors are generally classified into three major types, viz. The process of prescription generation and dispensing is governed by regulatory systems, the purpose of which is to maximize the safety and efficacy of the product supplied
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