The Study of Types and Categories of Inpatient Dispensing Errors in a Government Hospital

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the types and categories of dispensing errors reported by five inpatient pharmacies in a 2200-bed tertiary care teaching hospital from January 2010 to December 2012.
Methods: Dispensing error reports from five inpatient pharmacies in a 2200-bed tertiary care teaching hospital over a three-year period were analyzed. The reported incidents were categorized according to type of errors and categories of errors. The statistical analyzes were performed in frequency and percentage.
Results: A total dispensing error rate was 1.68 reports per 10,000 processed prescriptions from five different inpatient phar- macies for the period examined. Among the total of 535 prescriptions with dispensing errors, the three main types of errors included 315 (55.65%) being the wrong drugs, 110 (19.43%) being the wrong strengths, and 57 (10.07%) being the wrong dosage forms. The remaining types of errors were 31 (5.48%) wrong quantities, 30 (5.30%) missing items, 12 (2.12%) wrong instructions, and 11 (1.94%) wrong patients. The categories of errors, according to severity category A-I, were: 534 (94.3%) for categories A and B; 22 (3.9%) for category C; and 10 (1.8%) for category D.
Conclusion: Accurately reported and analyzed information on dispensing errors within the organization is needed to change the drug dispensing practice. A redesigned pharmacy distribution system is essential for preventing and reducing dispensing errors.