Pharmacist-led, prescription intervention system-assisted feedback to reduce prescribing errors: A retrospective study.

Abstract

WHAT IS KNOWN AND OBJECTIVE\nPrescribing errors are prevalent in hospital settings, with provision of feedback recommended to support prescribing by doctors. To evaluate the impact of a pharmacist-led prescription intervention system on prescribing error rates and to measure intervention efficiency.\n\n\nMETHODS\nAll prescribers in Shandong Provincial Third Hospital received feedback from ward pharmacists using a pharmacist-led prescription intervention system. The prescribing error rate was calculated from Oct 2019 to December 2020. After the intervention was applied, the rates of PASS 1 (System pass), PASS 2 (Pharmacist pass) and PASS 3 (Pharmacist-doctor pass) events and the feedback time were calculated each month.\n\n\nRESULTS AND DISCUSSION\nIrrational use of drugs was reduced and the prescription rate increased significantly. The error rate reduced from 6.94% to 1.96%, representing an estimated 71.76% decrease overall (p\xa0<\xa00.05). The PASS 1 rate gradually increased from 88% to 96% (p\xa0<\xa00.05), the PASS 2 rate gradually decreased from 5.06% to 2.04% (p\xa0<\xa00.05), the PASS 3 rate gradually decreased from 6.94% to 1.96% (p\xa0<\xa00.05).\n\n\nWHAT IS NEW AND CONCLUSION\nThe pharmacist-led prescription intervention system has the potential to reduce prescribing errors and improve prescribing outcomes and patient safety.