What question did this study set out to answer?

To determine the prevalence, severity, and predictors of prescribing errors among hospital inpatients and compare error rates between junior doctors, senior doctors, and non-medical prescribers.

June 26, 2015Drug SafetyOpen Access

Prevalence, Nature, Severity and Risk Factors for Prescribing Errors in Hospital Inpatients: Prospective Study in 20 UK Hospitals

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Authors

DADarren M. AshcroftQueen's University Belfast PLPenny LewisManchester Academic Health Science Centre MTMary P. TullyUniversity of Bradford

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Implication

Prospective multicenter study finds an 8.8% prescribing error rate across hospital inpatients, indicating that severe errors occur across all doctor grades rather than just junior staff.

Key Points

To determine the prevalence, severity, and predictors of prescribing errors among hospital inpatients and compare error rates between junior doctors, senior doctors, and non-medical prescribers.
Prospective multicenter observational study conducted across 20 UK hospitals over 7 prospectively selected days.
Pharmacists monitored 124,260 medication orders across 26,019 inpatients to identify prescribing errors and record prescriber seniority.
Logistic regression models adjusted for hospital clustering were utilized to evaluate predictors of error occurrence and clinical severity.
The overall mean prescribing error rate was 8.8% (95% CI 8.6–9.1), encompassing 11,235 errors detected across 10,986 medication orders.
Error odds were significantly higher for first-year (OR 2.13; 95% CI 1.80–2.52) and second-year doctors in training (OR 2.23; 95% CI 1.89–2.65) compared to consultants, and errors occurred 70% more frequently during hospital admission (OR 1.70; 95% CI 1.61–1.80).
Error severity did not differ significantly between prescriber grades, but potentially serious errors were most strongly associated with parenteral administration and therapies for endocrine or cardiovascular disorders.

Cite This Study

Ashcroft et al. (2015) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a716f3ffebe604dd70a1a95 https://doi.org/10.1007/s40264-015-0320-x

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Implication

Prospective multicenter study finds an 8.8% prescribing error rate across hospital inpatients, indicating that severe errors occur across all doctor grades rather than just junior staff.

Prevalence, Nature, Severity and Risk Factors for Prescribing Errors in Hospital Inpatients: Prospective Study in 20 UK Hospitals

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

Prevalence, Nature, Severity and Risk Factors for Prescribing Errors in Hospital Inpatients: Prospective Study in 20 UK Hospitals

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

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