[Impact of medical prescription computerisation on the incidence of adverse drug effects].
BACKGROUND
Adverse drug effects are a significant public health problem. Prescription errors are responsible for a significant proportion of these adverse effects.


METHODS
We have aimed to improve the link between generation of and interpretation of a prescription through computerisation. The prescription sheet, which is generated daily, was organised to allow care planning without the need to re-copy out treatments on the sheet. A prescription aid was available which was based on a core group of drugs commonly used in our respiratory service. The aim of the study was to compare the various types of errors observed during 6 weeks of computerized prescriptions (229 files) to a retrospective series of handwritten prescriptions of the service at an identical time (184 files) the previous year. The case-mix was identical for both analysed periods.


RESULTS
The total number of technical prescribing errors in the 1,599 handwritten lines (49.27% error) was significantly higher (p<0.001) than the 1,805 computerized prescriptions lines (42.88% error). The errors of copying (p<0.001), eligibility (p<0.001) and incorrect spelling (p<0.05) were the main sources of error which were significantly reduced by computerisation.


CONCLUSIONS
Computerised prescription is likely to reduce the incidence of prescribing errors and adverse drug effects.
Maurer
C
C
Service de Pneumologie, Centre Hospitalier Le Raincy-Montfermeil, Montfermeil. cmaurer@ch-montfermeil.fr
Lecointre
K
K
Cachin
N
N
Latawiec
K
K
Ouadfel
F
F
Lahmek
P
P
Fauvelle
F
F
Piquet
J
J
D016303:Clinical Pharmacy Information Systems / Q000458:organization & administration*; D020000:Decision Support Systems, Clinical / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005260:Female; D005602:France; D006801:Humans; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008297:Male; D008508:Medication Errors / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008510:Medication Systems, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D017751:Safety Management / Q000458:organization & administration; D014584:User-Computer Interface