Introduction: Dispensing errors involving drug preparation and inspection can lead to severe incidents, so pharmacists should develop strategies to prevent errors for patient safety.
Despite our efforts to improve dispensing procedures and develop strategies for dispensing errors, these errors were challenging to reduce in our facility.
For this reason, we introduced an information technology (IT)-based dispensing inspection support system to address these dispensing errors and verified the efficacy of introducing the system in reducing dispensing errors and improving patient safety.
Method: We introduced a system for assisting drug preparation (F-WAVE®, TOSHO) and inspection support system (C-correct II®, TOSHO). To verify the IT system’s efficacy, we analyzed the number of incidents, including near-misses, during the 12 months before and after March 2022, when we introduced the IT system to our facility. To confirm the contribution to patient safety, we analyzed the typical incident reports before introducing the IT system (January 2018 - February 2022).
Result: The average number of incidents significantly decreased before the introducing the IT system. Also, the number of near-miss incidents related to “Incorrect drug” and “Incorrect strength/dosage form” significantly decreased. On the other hand, the number of detected near-misses related to “Incorrect quantity” significantly increased after introducing the IT system. Dispensing errors that could have led to serious incidents reported before introducing the IT system but not after.
Discussion: The IT-based dispensing inspection support system was adequate to prevent errors in “Incorrect drug”, “Incorrect strength/dosage form”, “Incorrect quantity”, and improves patient safety.
View full abstract