Medication prescribing errors in a teaching hospital.
A study of prescribing errors committed by physicians that occurred in a tertiary-care teaching hospital is reported. From a total of 289 411 medication orders written during the 1-year study period, 905 prescribing errors were detected and averted, of which 522 (57.7%) were rated as having potential for adverse consequences. The overall detected error rate was 3.13 errors for each 1000 orders written and a rate of 1.81 significant errors per 1000 orders. The error rate (4.01 per 1000 orders) was greatest between 12 pm and 3:59 pm. First-year postgraduate residents were found to have a higher error rate (4.25 per 1000 orders) than other prescriber classes, and obstetrics/gynecology services (3.54 per 1000 orders) and surgery/anesthesia services (3.42 per 1000 orders) had greater error rates than other services. The study results demonstrate the significant risk to patients from medication prescribing errors. Educational, operational, and risk-management activities should include efforts directed at reducing the risk to patients from prescribing errors.
Lesar
T S
TS
Department of Pharmacy, Albany Medical Center Hospital, NY 12208.
Briceland
L L
LL
Delcoure
K
K
Parmalee
J C
JC
Masta-Gornic
V
V
Pohl
H
H
D006746:Hospital Bed Capacity, 500 and over; D006748:Hospital Departments / Q000592:standards; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D007049:Iatrogenic Disease; D007396:Internship and Residency / Q000592:standards; D008485:Medical Audit; D008505:Medical Staff, Hospital / Q000592:standards*; D008508:Medication Errors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008511:Medicine / Q000592:standards; D009518:New York; D012307:Risk Factors; D013038:Specialization