Medication errors: considerations for nurse prescribers

Abstract

Medication errors continue to be a problem involving patients in both primary and secondary care settings. Current evidence suggests that medication errors are costly and increasing (Dobrzanski et al, 2002). For this reason, the Department of Health (2001) aims to reduce the incidence of medication errors by approximately 40% by 2005. Prescribing medication is a relatively new task for nurse prescribers and because of this, vigilance with regard to prescription writing standards is required in order to avoid mistakes in the writing of prescriptions. Nurse prescribers need to maintain the currency of their knowledge in applied pharmacology and therapeutics in order to prevent prescribing errors that involve medications with complex pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic profiles.