[Comparative study of errors in electronic versus manual prescription].
OBJECTIVE
Electronic prescribing is considered a basic measure for the prevention and reduction of medications errors. The goal of this survey was to assess the incidence of errors occurring with electronic versus standard prescription.


METHODS
A prospective, sequential, open-label study to assess errors with electronic prescribing as compared to traditional manual prescribing in two public hospitals in Balearic Islands. Errors regarding medication, diet and/or nursing orders were assesses along four process stages: medical prescription, pharmacy transcription/validation, nursing transcription, and dispensation.


RESULTS
With manual prescription 1,576 errors/18,539 therapy orders (8.50%) were identified, whereas with electronic prescription 827 errors/18,885 therapy orders (4.38%) were detected, which represents a relative risk reduction by 48% and an absolute risk reduction by 4.12% (p < 0.0001). Pharmacy transcription/validation errors decreased (1.73 vs. 0.13%, p < 0.0001), as did nursing transcription errors (2.54 vs. 0.81%, p < 0.0001) and dispensation errors (2.13 vs. 0.96%, p < 0.0001); however, the number of prescription errors increased (2.10 vs. 2.40%, p = 0.0401).


CONCLUSIONS
Electronic prescription is a powerful tool, and one that in this work was shown to decrease medication-, diet-, and nursing care-related errors in a highly significant way; however, it should be developed and maintained in order to achieve safety and effectiveness as required by drug usage.
Delgado Sánchez
O
O
Servicio de Farmacia, Hospital Universitario Son Dureta, Palma de Mallorca. odelgados@sefh.es
Escrivá Torralva
A
A
Vilanova Boltó
M
M
Serrano López de las Hazas
J
J
Crespí Monjo
M
M
Pinteño Blanco
M
M
Martínez López
I
I
Tejada González
P
P
Cervera Peris
M
M
Fernández Cortés
F
F
Puigventós Latorre
F
F
Barroso Navarro
M A
MA
D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D050316:Medical Order Entry Systems / Q000592:standards*; D008508:Medication Errors / Q000145:classification / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011446:Prospective Studies