title: [Errors in prescriptions and control of prescriptions].
abstract: In Denmark, there is a tradition for strict control and safety measures in connection with prescribing and dispensing medicine in order to avoid undesirable or incorrect intake of medicine. The basis for this is the circular on dispensing from the Danish Board of Health which provides guidelines for composition of prescriptions by doctors and the control function by pharmacists. The object of this investigation is to describe the material of incorrect prescriptions which pharmacists are required to collect in connection with control of prescriptions. The investigation is based on material collected during a period of one month in the County of Arhus. The commonest type of erroneous prescription is incorrect statement of the strength of the preparation. This was found in 44.3% of the collected prescriptions. Another common problem is absence of the endorsement "for a child" and absence of the age of the child in prescriptions for these. In the material of incorrect prescriptions, statistically significantly more prescriptions were written by hospital doctors and secretaries. In contrast to ordinary prescriptions, telephone prescriptions are characterized a low frequency of errors as telephone prescriptions only constituted 8.2% of the erroneous material as compared with 47.8% in the conventional investigation. The authors consider that in a future revision of the circular on dispensing the requirement concerning repeated dispensing should be made more lenient and the indications and declarations of age should be more strict. Similarly, reduction in the synonymous preparations and the number of strengths should be reduced in order to facilitate clarity for the prescribing doctor.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Grøn
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kennebo
mesh_terms: D003718:Denmark; D011307:Drug Prescriptions; D006801:Humans; D008508:Medication Errors; D010594:Pharmacies
vernacular_title: Receptfejl og receptkontrol.