Effectiveness of Medication Order Verification on Identifying Prescribing Errors in the Surgical Ward at a University Hospital

Abstract

Background: Medication order verification is a standard step in pharmacy practice and aligns with hospital and healthcare standards. It can help prevent or reduce the occurrence of medication prescribing errors.

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of the medication order verification process on the rate of prescribing errors and the potential impact on patient care before and after implementing the process.

Methods: A comparative study was conducted by retrospectively reviewing the medication error database of the inpatient ward, surgical department between November 2020 and October 2022. Data before and after the implementation of the medication order verification process were compared.

Results: The overall error rate in prescribing increased from 0.48 to 4.47 incidents per 1,000 patient-days after implementation (p-value<0.001). The rate of severity level B errors increased from 0.048 to 0.441 incidents per 1,000 patient-days (p-value<0.001). The rate of errors with potential impact on patient care also increased from 0.31 to 2.93 incidents per 1,000 patient-days (p-value<0.001).

Conclusion: The medication order verification process implemented in the inpatient ward, surgical department enhanced the detection of prescribing errors, most of which were classified as severity level B. The process was able to identify issues impacting patient care at three levels of significance: significant, very significant, and somewhat significant.