Medication Errors: Common Pitfalls and Recommendations in Pediatric Dentistry Practice

Parallel to the development of new medications for various diseases run the threat of medication errors. These errors though common, very few are fatal and so goes unnoticed. Such errors occurring with pediatric population can be a major predicament. This review aims to address the various parametric variations and considerations in pediatric population so as to minimize medication errors. A detailing about various causes, types and levels of errors, ways of analysing the amount of error and the essential knowledge about prescription writing which could reduce the incidents have been paid attention to. The article also discusses possible recommendations to the stakeholders and caregivers that could encompass the reason of lack of information for the ever-increasing medication errors.

Pharmacist-Led Education for Final Year Medical Students: A Pilot Study

Background: Prescribing is a core skillset for medical officers. Prescribing errors or deficiencies can lead to patient harm and increased healthcare costs. There is an undefined role for pharmacist-led education to final year medical students to improve prescribing skills.Aim: Assess if pharmacist-led education on prescription writing improves the quality and safety of final year medical students' prescribing skills.Method: Participants and Intervention: Final year medical students were randomised into tutorial (TG) or non-tutorial groups (NTG) and assessed pre- and post- intervention. TG received education by a clinical pharmacist and pharmacy educator using case-based learning. NTG received no additional training as per usual practice. Following the pre-test, all students completed a 3-week tertiary hospital medical ward placement. Students completed the post-test following placement and after the TG participated in the intervention.Student Assessment: Assessment included writing Schedule 4 (S4, prescription only), Schedule 8 (S8, controlled drug), S4 streamline (S4SL), and Mixed case (S4 and S8) prescriptions.Results: At baseline, there were no significant differences between TG and NTG for overall scores or proportion of passes. Post intervention scores significantly improved in TG (p = 0.012) whereas scores significantly decreased in the NTG (p = 0.004). The overall proportion of passes was significantly higher in the TG than NTG (p < 0.001).Conclusion: Education by a clinical pharmacist improved short-term prescribing skills of final year medical students in this study. Students learning primarily experientially from peers and rotational supervisors showed decreased prescribing skills. We propose pharmacist-led education on prescription writing should be further evaluated in larger studies across more student cohorts and for longer periods of follow up time to clarify whether such an educational model could be included in future medical school curricula.

Tingkat Pengetahuan Penulisan Resep Pada Mahasiswa Tingkat Akhir Tahap Sarjana Program Studi Kedokteran Universitas Malahayati

ABSTRACT: KNOWLEDGE LEVEL OF RECEPTION WRITING AT END LEVEL BACHELOR STAGE BACHELOR OF MEDICAL STUDY PROGRAM, MALAHAYATI UNIVERSITY, 2020 Background: Prescription is the most important therapeutic transaction between doctor and patient in which a written order is attached about the drug to be used for the prevention of complications and the treatment of patient diagnosis directed by the doctor. Prescription writing is one of the materials studied by medical students, especially final year students because they have passed almost all clinical blocks. Objective: Determine the level of knowledge of prescription writing in the final year undergraduate students of the Malahayati University medical study program.Methodology: The type of research used in this research is descriptive quantitative. With a measuring instrument using a prescription writing questionnaire that has been tested for validity and reliability to the respondent. Result: Of the 190 respondents consisting of 63 men and 127 women who filled out the questionnaire, the knowledge level of prescription writing was obtained 96 respondents (50.5%) sufficient knowledge, 92 respondents (48.4%) good knowledge, and 2 respondents (1.1%) lack of knowledge. Conclusion: The majority of prescription writing knowledge of final year students of the Malahayati University medical study program has sufficient knowledge. With the topic of discussion, the majority of which were controlled by the respondents was the authority to write prescriptions and the less mastered was the abbreviation of prescription. Keywords: Knowledge Level, Prescription Writing INTISARI: TINGKAT PENGETAHUAN PENULISAN RESEP PADA MAHASISWA TINGKAT AKHIR TAHAP SARJANA PROGRAM STUDI KEDOKTERAN UNIVERSITAS MALAHAYATI TAHUN 2020 Latar Belakang: Resep merupakan sebuah transaksi teurapeutik terpenting antara dokter dengan pasien yang didalam nya terlampir perintah tertulis tentang obat yang akan digunakan untuk pencegahan komplikasi dan pengobatan diagnosis pasien yang diarahkan oleh dokter. Penulisan resep merupakan salah satu materi yang di pelajari mahasiswa kedokteran, terutama mahasiswa tingkat akhir karena telah melewati hampir seluruh blok klinis.Tujuan: Mengetahui tingkat pengetahuan penulisan resep pada mahasiswa tingkat akhir tahap sarjana program studi kedokteran Universitas Malahayati.Metodologi: Jenis penelitian yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah deskriptif kuantitatif. Dengan alat ukur menggunakan kuesioner penulisan resep yang telah diuji validitas dan realibilitasnya kepada responden.Hasil: Dari 190 responden yang terdiri dari 63 laki-laki dan 127 perempuan yang mengisi kuesioner tingkat pengetahuan penulisan resep didapatkan 96 responden (50,5%) pengetahuan cukup, 92 responden (48.4%) pengetahuan baik dan 2 responden (1,1%) pengetahuan kurang.Kesimpulan: Mayoritas pengetahuan penulisan resep mahasiswa tingkat akhir program studi kedokteran Universitas Malahayati memiliki pengetahuan cukup. Dengan topik bahasan yang mayoritas sangat dikuasai responden adalah wewenang menulis resep dan yang kurang dikuasai adalah singkatan peresepan. Kata Kunci : Tingkat Pengetahuan, Penulisan Resep

Community Pharmacists’ Opinions towards Poor Prescription Writing in Jazan, Saudi Arabia

Avoidance of medication errors is imperative for the safe use of medications, and community pharmacists are uniquely placed to identify and resolve the errors that may arise due to poorly handwritten prescriptions. Purpose: To explore the opinion and attitudes of community pharmacists towards poor prescription writing and their suggestions to overcome this concern. Methods: A cross-sectional, self-administered survey was conducted among the community pharmacists in the Jazan region, Saudi Arabia. Descriptive analysis and chi-square test were used at 5% p-value (p > 0.05) as the significance level. Results: The response rate for the survey was 78.66%, and 140 community pharmacists agreed to participate. Among the study subjects, the majority (73.57%) had a bachelor’s degree. Nearly three-fourths (3/4) of the pharmacists (72.29%) chose to send the patient back to the prescriber when they found difficulty in interpreting the information from an illegible prescription. As many as 80.71% of the pharmacists believed that poorly handwritten prescriptions were the cause of actual errors when dispensing medications. The most commonly encountered problem due to poorly handwritten prescriptions was the commercial name of medicine, which was reported by around two-thirds (67.86%) of the pharmacists. The use of e-prescription was suggested by 72.86% of the pharmacists as a probable solution to encounter this problem. Conclusion: Our findings highlight the belief and attitudes of community pharmacists in the region and their opinions to solve this impending problem of poor prescription writing. Continuous professional development courses can be adopted to tackle the problem. Additionally, health authorities can work on incorporating and facilitating the use of e-prescription in the community sector, which can be a boon to physicians, pharmacists, and patients. Proper and extensive training is however needed before the implementation of e-prescribing.

Authentication of Unused Medicine Domination for NGOs

This project aims to donate medicines which are unused. The unused medicine can be donated for further utilization by a needy person. This application helps the user to donate unused medicines to NGO. Admin will login and manage members by deleting and blocking the users providing improper or expired medicines. Admin has to verify the uploaded image for their expiry date.NGO manages the stock which helps to maintain a record of the available medicine. Members can also check their previous data of medicine transactions. The donation of unused medicines is not accepted worldwide, although it is legal in some countries. A constant increase in the rate of prescription writing has prompted several charity organizations to collect a growing number of unused medicines. WHO guidelines for drug donations discourage donation of unused medicines, as this may create a number of problems. Detrimental effects of drug donations for use in emergency situations have been reported, as the arrival of unsorted, useless and expired medicines requires management and sorting, which may take up the time of health workers and eventually lead to the appearance of these drugs on the black market. However, cases of regulated donations have been reported in the USA, where several states have adopted laws in order to facilitate the redistribution of unused drugs to indigent and uninsured patients.This project aims to donate medicines which are unused. The unused medicine can be donated for further utilization by a needy person. This application helps the user to donate unused medicines to NGO. Admin will login and manage members by deleting and blocking the users providing improper or expired medicines. Admin has to verify the uploaded image for their expiry date.NGO manages the stock which helps to maintain a record of the available medicine.Members can also check their previous data of medicine transactions.

Knowledge, attitude and practices of rational use of medicines among interns in a tertiary care teaching hospital in Telangana

Background: Rational use of drugs significantly impacts the treatment outcomes and the cost of health care. Most of the medical students are exposed to rational use of medicines and prescription writing during their second year but it is only during internship that they actually start prescribing under expert guidance. Aims and Objective: This study was planned to assess the rational prescribing practices of Interns in a tertiary care teaching hospital. Materials and Methods: With prior approval from Institutional Ethics Committee, a cross sectional study was conducted among 2014 batch of Interns from Malla Reddy Medical College for Women, Suraram, Hyderabad. Hard copies of prevalidated questionnaire consisting of 23 questions including a question on writing a prescription for a patient suffering from cold and fever was administered to the students after taking oral informed consent. Data from completed questionnaires was entered into excel sheet and analysed using descriptive statistics. Results: Of 64 interns, only 20% were aware of the term rational use of medicines, 75% of the term essential medicines and 22% of p drugs. Most of them were unaware of the step criteria for p drugs and advantages of using p drugs (87%). 95% of them reiterated that they could label the parts of prescription but mean score of the interns for writing a prescription was 3. 62% of them had positive attitude towards prescription writing. Conclusion: There is a need to improve the knowledge, attitude and practices of Rational use of Medicinesamong the Interns. Educational interventional strategies in the form of seminars, workshops, orientation programs can be adopted to promote rational use of medicines.

Medication Errors on a Surgery Service: Addressing the Gap with a Medication Prescribing Curriculum for Surgery Residents

Background Medication prescribing errors are a source of morbidity and mortality on surgical wards, however educational interventions with proven effectiveness to reduce these errors are lacking. Our objective was to design, implement, and assess the effectiveness of a curriculum designed to reduce medication prescribing errors on a surgery service at an academic hospital without electronic order entry. Methods This was a prospective observational cohort study at a Canadian academic hospital. A medication prescribing curriculum for surgery residents was developed and implemented in July 2019. All general surgery residents (n = 16) at our institution were eligible; 13 (81%) participated. Medication prescribing errors were tracked pre-curriculum implementation (July 1, 2018-June 30, 2019) and post-curriculum (July 1-December 31, 2019). Medication prescribing errors were classified as prescription-writing (PW) or decision-making (DM). Results There were 87.5 (14.6) total medication prescribing errors per month in the pre-implementation period with 51.3 (11.9) PW and 36.3 (6.0) DM errors. Post-implementation, there were 78.7 (10.3) total errors monthly with 43.3 (9.5) PW and 35.3 (4.2) DM errors. There were significantly fewer total errors monthly in the first quarter (July–September) of the academic year post-curriculum implementation versus pre-implementation (77.7(12.7) vs. 107.3(8.1); p = 0.035) with significantly fewer PW errors monthly (40.7(13.2) vs. 68.7(9.3); p = 0.046) and no difference in DM errors monthly (37.0(2.0) vs. 38.7(5.7); p = 0.671). Conclusions Medication prescribing errors on a surgical service occurred both from prescription-writing and decision-making. Educational interventions, such as our medication prescribing curriculum, can decrease errors related to prescription writing, however the effect appears diminish over time.