title: Patient safety in drug therapy and the influence of the prescription in dose errors.
abstract: The aims of this study were to analyze the redaction of the prescription in dose errors that occurred in general medical units of five Brazilian hospitals and to identify the pharmacological classes involved in these errors. This was a descriptive study that used secondary data obtained from a multicenter study conducted in 2005. The population consisted of 1,425 medication errors and the sample of 215 dose errors. Of these, 44.2% occurred in hospital E. The presence of acronyms and/or abbreviations was verified in 96.3% of prescriptions; absence of the patient registration in 54.4%; absence of posology in 18.1%; and omission of date of 0.9%. With respect to medication type, 16.8% were bronchodilators; 16.3% were analgesics; 12.1%, antihypertensives; and 8.4% were antibiotics. The absence of posology in the prescriptions may facilitate the administration of the wrong dose, resulting in inefficiency of the treatment, compromising the quality of care provided to hospitalized patients.
authors.affiliation: UNICASTELO, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Fernanda Raphael Escobar
authors.initials: FR
authors.lastname: Gimenes
authors.forename: Maria Ludermiller Sabóia
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Mota
authors.forename: Thalyta Cardoso Alux
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Teixeira
authors.forename: Ana Elisa Bauer de Camargo
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.forename: Simone Perufo
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Opitz
authors.forename: Silvia Helena De Bortoli
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Cassiani
mesh_terms: D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D008508:Medication Errors / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017751:Safety Management