Abstract

GINES CANTERO, Larissa Andrea et al. Evaluation of prescription management in a specialty hospital pharmacy service. Rev. Med [online]. 2022, vol.30, n.1, pp.27-36.  Epub June 30, 2023. ISSN 0121-5256.  https://doi.org/10.18359/rmed.6054.

Medication error is any preventable incident that may cause harm to the patient or result in inappropriate use of medications when these are under the control of healthcare professionals or the patient, with potential consequences for patients. In Paraguay, chronic respiratory diseases (COPD, asthma, etc. ), together with diabetes, cardiovascular problems, and cancer, are responsible for a high morbi-mortality in the country, with an increasing prevalence; therefore, this research aimed to evaluate the prescriptions that were prescribed in the outpatient clinic of a hospital specialized in respiratory diseases and dispensed in the pharmacy through a cross-sectional, retrospective, observational study and a non-probabilistic sampling, by convenience, which consisted of the review of medical prescriptions issued to patients of both sexes who attended the adult outpatient clinic of the National Institute of Respiratory and Environmental Diseases, during the months of September 2015 and 2016. The data were recorded in spreadsheets designed for this purpose, and a total of 4828 prescriptions were analyzed, of which 2421 correspond to the month of September 2015, with a total of 5955 drugs prescribed, and 2407 prescriptions correspond to the month of September 2016, with 6195 drugs prescribed. The most frequent technical prescription errors found in the prescriptions were the illegibility of the prescriptions and the absence of dosage and indication, being the most frequent errors for September 2015, and the absence of dosage and therapeutic indication (79.76 %)and illegibility of the prescription in September 2016 (87.00 %). Considering the legal requirements, the absence of diagnosis was the prevalent error (Sep-15: 64.19 %; Sep-16:60.08 %). This is why it is important to establish a risk management program in hospitals to implement new technologies that facilitate prescribing.

Keywords : medication error; medical prescription; prescription error; pharmaceutical service; prevention strategy..

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