Prescribing Errors

Question 1

What is a medication error?

Answer 1

any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm

Question 2

What is a prescribing error?

Answer 2

a clinically meaningful prescribing error occurs when as a result of a prescribing decision or prescription writing process, there is an unintentional significant:

• reduction in the probability of treatment being timely and effective
• increase in the risk of harm when compared with generally accepted practice

Question 3

What are the 2 kinds of prescribing error?

Answer 3

• prescribing faults (failures in the process of deciding which drug to use and how)
• prescription errors (failures in the prescription writing process that result in wrong instructions about one or more of the normal features of a prescription)

Question 4

Mistake

Answer 4

an error that arises from poor planning or inadequate knowledge

Question 5

Slip

Answer 5

an error that arises from imperfect execution of well-formulated plans

Question 6

Lapses

Answer 6

when a correct act is omitted

Question 7

What tasks are intrinsically prone to error?

Answer 7

• unfamiliar to the operator or performed under pressure

- require the calculation of a dosage or dilution

Question 8

When does the error rate increase?

Answer 8

When healthcare professionals are:

• inexperienced
• inattentive/rushed
• distracted
• fatigued or depressed

Question 9

Why do medication errors happen?

Answer 9

• increase in numbers and variety of drugs
• co-morbidities
• complexity of care process
• high risk medications
• number of prescribers
• OTC usage

Question 10

What errors can occur in prescription writing?

Answer 10

• wrong drug
• illegibility
• abbreviations

Question 11

What are the 5Rs of prescribing?

Answer 11

• right patient
• right drug
• right route
• right time
• right dose