What Must A Pharmacy Technician Always Do To Avoid Mistakes?

How to Guarantee Accuracy During the Intake Process – Make it a point to devise a method for the receipt of prescriptions that incorporates each of the following components: Verify the patient’s entire name and birth date with extreme care. On the physical copy of the prescription, it is imperative that the patient’s date of birth be written down at all times.

1. Always make sure that the patient’s profile is kept up to date with any new prescriptions or new sensitivities to medications.
2. Always check to see that the prescription is written for the appropriate drug.
3. Always check that a prescription is for the appropriate quantity before filling it.
4. Always check to be sure the prescription is for the right patient before filling it.

Always take into account the possibility of potentially dangerous medication interactions. Check to see that the patient has been given an adequate warning about any adverse effects that may result from taking a medicine.

Why is it important to prevent medication errors?

4. Discussion – The greatest possible therapeutic results for the patient, as well as an overall increase in the patient’s quality of life, should be the end result of the pharmacological treatment. Regrettably, there are risks involved with the use of medications for therapeutic purposes, including adverse drug responses and prescription mistakes ( Helper & Stand, 1990 ).

• Medication mistakes have severe repercussions for the well-being of the patient.
• These mistakes can happen at any point of the pharmaceutical usage process, including ordering, getting a prescription, getting the medicine, and using the medication.
• Error detection brings to light these flaws and, as a result, promotes an environment that is safe ( Montesi & Lechi, 2009 ).

An previous study conducted at two teaching hospitals identified a total of 616 MEs out of 10778 recorded drug doses, which corresponds to a rate of 5.7 percent ( Kaushel et al. , 2001 ). In a research conducted on pediatric inpatients at a big academic community hospital, there were a total of 16,938 prescription orders.

• Of those orders, 865 had mistakes, which corresponds to a rate of 5.2 errors per 100 orders ( Wang et al. , 2007 ).
• In the current investigation, there were a total of 1467 drug mistakes out of 21843 observations.
• This represents a 6.7% error rate throughout all of the administrations.
• An prior research carried out in Egypt found that 78.1 percent of the medicine orders, or 1107 of them, included at least one prescription mistake ( Alagha, Badary, Ibrahim, & Sabry, 2011 ).

Prescription errors were the most common type of medication errors (MEs), according to a descriptive analysis of medication errors reported to the Egyptian national online reporting system. Out of the 12,000 valid reports that were analyzed, prescription errors made up 54% of MEs, followed by monitoring errors (25%), and administration errors (16%).

1. ( Shehata, Sabry, & Elmelegy, 2015 ).
2. In the present investigation: The stage in which errors in medicine were made the most frequently was the stage in which they were ordered and prescribed (38.1%), followed by the stage in which they were administered (20.9%).
3. The error rate during monitoring was 18.3%, whereas the error rate during preparation was 12.3%, and the error rate during dispensing was 10.4%.

According to research that has been published, not all MEs are harmful ( WHO, 2014 ). Several methods that are utilized to determine whether or not errors are preventable are mostly dependant on the discretion of the researcher. (Ferner & Anorson, 2006) In the Egyptian study (Shehata et al., 2015), the percentages of mistakes that were potential and averted errors were respectively 25% and 11%, but in our study those percentages were respectively 7.7% and 47.4%.

1. During the baseline measurement, approximately 45% of errors in Dar El Shefaa resulted in patients being affected: 43.5% of these errors were harmless, and 1.4% of these errors were harmful.
2. This compares to the 51% harmless and 13% harmful errors that were reported to the Egyptian national online reporting system from June to December 2014.

Given the resources that are at your disposal, there is more than one instrument for mistake detection. Voluntary reporting, direct observation, and chart review are the three methods that are used to identify medication mistakes. Organizations need to build mechanisms for the avoidance of pharmaceutical mistakes by conducting analyses to determine the causes of errors in order to find opportunities for quality improvement and improvements to the system ( Morimoto, Seger, Hsieh, & Bates, 2004 ).

1. Every instrument comes with its own unique set of benefits as well as drawbacks.
2. For example, direct observation is utilized more often for the identification of mistakes in dispensing and administration as opposed to errors in monitoring and prescribing.
3. Review of patient charts is a dependable strategy that may detect prescription mistakes more effectively than administrative error detection ( Morimoto et al.

, 2004 ; WHO, 2014 ). As a result of this, mistakes made throughout the stages of drug prescription, dispensing, preparation, and administration were shown to decrease in the current study, going from (38.1%) to (35.5%); (10.4%) to (7.0%); (12.3%) to (11.7%); and from (20.9%) to (19.9%) accordingly.

On the other hand, there was a considerable rise in the number of monitoring mistakes, which went from 18.3% to 25.9%.81% of the physicians who participated in a research to identify and prioritize effective measures to prevent medication mistakes indicated that the function of ward-based clinical pharmacists be activated ( Fortescue et al.

, 2003 ). Clinical pharmacists have extensive training in therapeutics and help patients and other healthcare practitioners with thorough medication management. As a result, clinical pharmacists are competent to manage pharmaceutical therapy in a patient care context, working closely with other professionals in the medical field ( Peter, Kaboli, Angel, Hoth, & McClimer, 2006 ) It is the responsibility of the pharmacist to ensure that every patient derives the most benefit from the drugs they take.

It is the responsibility of the pharmacist to lead coordinated, multidisciplinary efforts to prevent and detect drug-related problems that have the potential to cause damage. This should be done using an approach that is system-oriented ( Helper et al. , 1990 ). To guarantee that pharmaceutical procedures are carried out in a secure manner, the pharmacist should collaborate with other medical professionals, including physicians and nurses, as well as staff members from other departments ( Lesar et al.

, 1990 ). Therefore, in this study, the pharmacist was present in each ward to supervise all steps of the pharmaceutical process, beginning with the ordering of the prescription and ending with the patient receiving the medication. They went over the patient files and issued a report on any problems.

1. All of the reports that were handed in were examined by a committee composed of experts from various fields.
2. As a direct result of this, the training program was designed and implemented during the phase of intervention.
3. The error rate was successfully reduced by 46.3% as a result of the intervention.

Throughout the course of the research, the number of medication mistakes gradually reduced, reaching a low of 3.6% in the post test period, compared to a high of 6.7% of all recorded doses during the pretest phase. The error rates before and after clinical pharmacist intervention were 4.9 and 4.5 errors per 1000 medication orders, respectively, in a study that looked at the impact of clinical pharmacist intervention in preventing harm from medication errors in two children’s hospitals over the course of six months.

1. The study aimed to examine the impact of clinical pharmacist intervention in preventing harm from medication errors ( Folli, Poole, Benitz, & Russo, 1987 ).
2. An adverse incident reporting mechanism and a multidisciplinary committee were employed in a two-year prospective cohort research to examine medication mistake reports.

The study followed participants during the course of a continuous quality improvement methodology. As a direct result of this, adjustments were made to both the policy and the practice in order to decrease the number of mistakes. The number of mistakes that were reported decreased throughout the second year of the study ( Wilson et al.

1. , 1998 ). An instructional intervention in medication preparation and administration at a tertiary Neonatal Intensive Care Unit resulted in a considerable reduction in the number of medication mistakes, which went from 49% to 31% following the intervention ( Chedoe, Molendijk, Hospes, Van den Heuvel, & Taxis, 2012 ).

In a study of medication mistakes among newborn and pediatric inpatients, including the impact of a series of interventions to prevent errors, the medication error rate was 11.4% before the interventions, but it dropped to 7.3% after the treatments ( Otero, Leyton, Mariami & Gernadas, et al.

• , 2008 ). In a pediatric ward of a district general hospital in the United Kingdom, the introduction of a tutorial prescribing process resulted in a 46% drop in the number of prescription mistakes ( Davey, Britland, & Naylor, 2008 ).
• In the current study, ordering and prescription mistakes were shown to be the most prevalent cause of MEs (38.1%) during the baseline assessment; however, this percentage reduced to (35.5%).

An investigation of the causes of pharmaceutical errors in pediatric practice found that physicians were accountable for 72 percent of the mistakes ( Wilson et al. , 1998 ). After staff education, the percentage of mistakes caused by physicians at Dar El Shefaa dropped from 57% to 52.8%.

1. Previously, physicians were responsible for 57% of MEs.
2. On the other hand, throughout that same time period, the percentage of errors generated by nurses and pharmacists climbed in a manner that was hardly noticeable.
3. The findings of this study show the significance of mistake reports as informational sources that may be used to develop preventative strategies with the goal of reducing the number of pharmaceutical errors.

Reports underwent both quantitative and qualitative analysis in order to identify and rank the stages of medication errors, as well as the effects those errors had on patients and the underlying causes of those errors. As a result, corrective efforts focused on key areas and underlying causes to stop the problem from happening again.

1. According to the findings of the study, quality improvement programs should be implemented since they are both necessary and effective.
2. These programs should instruct staff members about the dangers of medication mistakes and the significance of reporting them.
3. Error detection by monitoring performed by clinical pharmacists was found to be an effective strategy.

The approaches that were investigated in this study can be of assistance to any organization in lowering rates of medication mistakes and in enhancing efforts to protect patients from harm. A large number of previous research focused on pediatrics and critical care units to define MEs because of the high prevalence of MEs in those patient categories.

1. In this study, an exhaustive investigation on the risk of MEs among people who were staying in the inpatient wards was carried out.
2. The research has a few drawbacks, including the following: Comparisons across the various studies are hindered by the fact that they use varying criteria and approaches to error detection ( Vasin et al.

, 2014 ). Different groups that participate in the reporting of MEs utilize a variety of terminologies and meanings. It is necessary to have a ” language ” that everyone understands in order to have productive teamwork ( Yu, Nation, & Dooley, 2005 ; WHO, 2014 ).

1. Because the intervention was only carried out for a short period of time (two months), the results may have been impacted as a result.
2. In addition, it was shown that employing the direct observation approach for identifying MEs might occasionally produce behavioral changes in the observed since the health care professionals were aware of the research; the Hawthorne effect could have altered both the occurrence and the identification of mistakes ( Dean & Barber, 2001 ).

In addition to this, it is also possible for the observer to forget to record certain MEs. Because remedial steps were performed as soon as major practice difficulties were found, there was a possibility that the overall number of mistakes committed during the course of the research may have been lowered.

What happens to pharmacist makes a mistake?

The Patient May Have the Right to Pursue a Pharmacy Error Lawsuit When a patient suffers injury as a result of a pharmacy error, the patient may have the right to bring a pharmacy error lawsuit in order to seek compensation. If a pharmacist dispenses the wrong drug, the inappropriate dosage, or fails to notice a contraindication with other medications the patient is taking, they may be responsible for malpractice and face legal consequences.

1. A lawsuit can be used to seek compensation for damages that are either economic or noneconomic in nature.
2. Our personal injury attorneys at Holliday Karatinos Law Firm, PLLC have more than 50 years of combined legal expertise and a track record of success.
3. Our legal representatives have lectured on the topic of personal injury law to both other legal professionals and law students in the surrounding area.

If you or a loved one has suffered injuries as the consequence of an error made by a pharmacist or a drug, please get in touch with our lawyers so that we may provide you with a free consultation to explore your legal options. Both Lutz and Brooksville, Florida, are home to one of our offices.

Can a pharmacy make mistake?

Even if they try their hardest, pharmacists are human and sometimes make mistakes. Mistakes made in the past are quickly becoming a thing of the past thanks to improved warning labels on medications and technology like barcode scanning. In most cases, patients are not put in danger or suffer long-term consequences from the relatively few pharmaceutical errors that are made.