Errors in Prescription Writing: An Audit of General Practitioners
Keywords:
Errors, Prescriptions, Audit, General Practitioners, KarachiAbstract
Objective:To identify the errors in the prescription writing of general practitioners (GPx) from different parts of Karachi.
Materials and Methods: A descriptive study was conducted in the department of Pharmacology at Bahria University Medical
& Dental College, Karachi, from 1st January to 30th February 2014. A total of 100 prescriptions were collected 25 each, randomly,
from 04 general practitioner`s clinics (east, west, central and south districts) of Karachi. Verbal consent of the respective (GPx)
was taken few days prior to collection of prescriptions. Patient’s consent was taken at the time of obtaining the prescription.
All prescriptions were analysed for errors in superscription, inscription, subscription, transcription, signatures and refill
information.
Results:A total of 473errors were identified in 100 prescriptions. 303 errors in superscription, 06 in inscription, 67 in subscription,
34 in transcription, 1 in prescriber’s signature , and 62 in refill information.
Conclusion: Errors in prescription writing are found to be common in the prescriptions of general practitioners. Measures
should be taken to refresh the prescription writing skills of general practitioners through Continuous Medical Education Sessions
(CMEs) and workshops.
References
http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/ general+
practitioner accessed on 13/5/16.
https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/explore-roles/generalpractice-
gp accessed on 13/5/16.
Dean B, Barber N, Schachter M. What is a prescribing
error? Qual Health Care 2000;9:232-7.
Monasse AP. Repeat prescriptions in general practice.
J RColl Gen Pract 1974; 24: 203-7.
Murdoch JC. The epidemiology of prescribing in an
urban practice. J R Coll Gen Pract 1980; 30: 593-602.
Drury MVW. Repeat prescribing - a review. J R Coll
Gen Pract 1982; 32: 42-45. 4. Secretaries of State for
Social Services, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.
Promoting better health (Cm249). London: HMSO,
Harris CM, Jarman B, Woodman E. Prescribing- a
suitable case for treatment. Occasional paper 24. London:
Royal College of General Practitioners 1984.
Grant GB, Gregory DA, van Zwanenberg TD. A basic
formulary for general practice. Oxford Medical
Publications, 1987.
WHO/EMP/MAR/2012.3.
Reilly PM, Woods JO, McGavock H. 1987 practice
formulary. Belfast: Royal College of General Practitioners,
Northern Ireland Faculty 1987.
Prescription. (n.d.) Miller-Keane Encyclopedia and
Dictionary of Medicine, Nursing, and Allied Health,
Seventh Edition. (2003). Retrieved March 23 2016
fromhttp://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/
prescription.
https://www.pharmacyregulation.org/raising-concerns/
raising-concerns-about-pharmacy-professional/whatexpect-
your-pharmacy/what-does-0 accessed on 14/5/16.
Mohammad IS, Haji Muhammad SK, Akhtar N, Najamus-
Saqib, F Ijaz H. Significance of Prescription Elements
and Reasons of Prescription Errors in South Punjab,
Pakistan, World Applied Sciences Journal 2015; 33 (4):
-72.
http://apps.who.int/medicinedocs/documents/s21788en
/s21788en.pdf accessed on 20/6/16.
James B. Errors found in one in 20 GP prescription
items (general practitioner). InChemist& Druggist2012
May 5, P.8 (ISSN: 0009-3033).
MA Steinman. Polypharmacy-Time to Get Beyond
Numbers.JAMA Intern Med. 2016; 176(4):482-3. doi:10.
/jamainternmed.2015.8597.
Koper D, Kamenski G, Flamm M, Böhmdorfer B, Sönnichsen
A. Frequency of medication errors in primary care
patients with polypharmacy. Fam Pract 2013 Jun;30(3):
-9. doi: 10.1093/fampra/cms070. Epub 2012 Nov 6.
Calligaris L, Panzera A,Arnoldo L. Errors and omissions
in hospital prescriptions: a survey of prescription writing
in a hospital. BMC Clin Pharmacol 2009; 9: 9. Published
online 2009 May 13. doi: 10.1186/1472-6904-9-9.
Maio V, Del Canale S, Abouzaid S. GAP Investigators.
Using explicit criteria to evaluate the quality of prescribing
in elderly Italian outpatients: a cohort study.JClin
Pharm Ther 2010; 35(2):219-29. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-
2009.01094.x.
Weetman T, Aronson J, Maxwell S. Reducing prescription
errors. Lancet 2010; 375:461-2.
Marwaha M, Marwaha RK, WadhwapadiJyoti SSV. A
retrospective analysis on a survey of handwritten
prescription errors in general practice. Int J Pharmacy
Pharm Sci 2010; 2(3):80-2.
Perwitasari QA, Abror J, Wahyuningsih I. Medication
errors in outpatients of a government hospital in Yogyakarta
Indonesia. Int J Pharm Sci Rev Res 2010; 1:8-10.
Nadeem SH, Mohamed A, Anthony JA. A survey of
prescription errors in general practice. Pharm J 2001;267:
-2.
Ansari M, Neupane D. Study on determination of errors
in prescription writing: A semi-electronic perspective.
Kathmandu Univ Med J 2009;7:238-41.
Bates K, Brennan TA, Laird N, Lawthers AG, Localio
AR, Barnes BA. Determining the frequency of prescription
errors in an Irish hospital. Ir J Med Sci 2010; 179:
-6.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2016 Talea Hoor, Riffat Farooqui, Nasim Karim, Afsheen Nazar
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Journal of Bahria University Medical & Dental College is an open access journal and is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0. which permits unrestricted non commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0 
