When they are hospitalized, patients usually bring a lot of medicines with them, which have been prescribed to them as outpatients or by other hospitals. To prevent medication errors, it is important for clinical pharmacists to check whether the prescription details for these medicines (or alternative medicines) are correctly indicated in the administration records kept during their hospitalization. In the present study, we investigated the kinds and numbers of outpatients prescriptions brought into hospital through patient interviews from February to July, 2005 and compared them with the administration records.
Most patients (87%) brought some medicines with them when they were hospitalized. About 26% of the administration records for these medicines were incorrectly indicated, with the wrong dosage (40%), wrong indication (28%) or no indication (26%) being given. All these mistakes were corrected by pharmacists before medicines were distributed to patients.
In conclusion, checking outpatient prescriptions through patient interviews and comparing them with administration records is a good method of preventing medication errors.
