A PROSPECTIVE STUDY ON IDENTIFYING PRESCRIBING ERRORS AND AWARENESS OF PATIENTS’ MEDICATION KNOWLEDGE IN A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL

Background: Patients’ drug administration errors are often promoted by poor drug knowledge resulting from inadequate oral or written information. Patients’ insufficient or wrong knowledge regarding the medication they use may vary and probably lead to the incorrect use of the latter, thus causing a decrease in its efficacy or other health problems. Patients’ knowledge enhances active participation in therapy, thus increasing adherence and ultimately leading to better treatment outcomes. The primary aim of this study was to assess the impact of patient medication counseling by comparing the levels of patient’s medication knowledge achieved by medication counseling in an outpatient clinic. Medication errors are at the forefront and common provision of modern healthcare and one of the many hazards of hospitalization. The problem is of multidisciplinary and multifactorial in nature. Medical errors are events that are considered as a threat to patient well-being that should not happen or recur. The medication error is not only clinically significant in many occasions; it has serious economic consequences like extended hospital stays, additional treatment, and malpractice litigation. Clinical pharmacist counseling was found to be more effective for improving patients’ knowledge and understanding of prescribed medications and their factors. These techniques were valuable in helping to reduce the incidence of recurrent ADRs and improve adherence to the regimen. Objective: The purpose of the study was to analyze the prescription and assess patients’ medication knowledge before and after counseling. To identify prescribing errors, categorize the most frequent types of errors, and to evaluate their potential clinical significance. Methods: The study was carried out over a period of 6 months at Shadan Institute of Medical Sciences, Shadan Hospital, Hyderabad. The study followed the prescribing activities of the physician. Handwritten prescriptions were clinically reviewed. Each prescription was checked twice to assess patients’ medication knowledge and again to check prescribing errors. All Prescriptions were checked for errors using WHO Good Prescribing Guidelines. Subjects of both genders were taken into consideration who had co morbid pathological conditions were also included. Results: 300 Outpatient Cards were collected, 152 were paediatric and 148 were general medicine. Percentages found before and after counseling were found to be: Before counseling: 53.70%. After counseling: 85.91%. The most common errors found in our study were missing medication dose. Missing time of administration of medication. Illegible handwriting. Missing duration of therapy. Conclusion: Our study concluded that overall frequency of patients’ medication knowledge was found to be 80% .Clinical Pharmacists can play a major role in early detection and prevention of errors and thus can improve quality of care to the patients. This study clearly shows the need for clinical pharmacists to work full time at the medicine ward and develop hospital formulary and prescription policies. Improvement in patients’ medication knowledge showed a positive effect on medication adherence. An organization should assign resources to address error prevention strategies in an effort to improve patients’ outcomes and decrease morbidity and mortality associated with medication errors.