Prescription Writing: The Forgotten Art

Aasim Farooq Shah; Pradeep Tangade; Arun Dodamani; Manu Batra; Jasbir Meher

Prescription Writing: The Forgotten Art

Aasim Farooq Shah, Pradeep Tangade, Arun Dodamani, Manu Batra, Jasbir Meher

Abstract

Prescription is one of the most important therapeutic transactions between a physician and a patient. Prescription errors contribute to a significant rise in adverse events. These errors in prescribing can be classified into; physician-related or drug-related errors. The present study was conducted to assess the extent of noncompliance with prescription writing requirements. This cross sectional study was conducted in the Moradabad city in Uttar Pradesh state, India, in the month of November 2012. Prescriptions were collected for 15 days from out-patient departments of private hospitals, district hospital and drug stores on Probability Proportional to Enrolment size (PPE) in the Moradabad city after acquiring a verbal consent from prescription holders. All prescriptions were assessed retrospectively. The significance of differences was sought using Mann–Whitney U tests. Out of 736 prescriptions, 586 prescriptions were selected which included 442 Medical and 144 Dental prescriptions. Discrepancies in components of; registration number, address, Rx, drug quantity were found in more than 50%; errors in prescribers identity, degree, signature, age, sex, strength of drug, and direction were seen in less than 50%. Out of the total prescriptions with errors, 58% were written by medical practitioners. The results of the present study denote that there exists a low obedience rate to the procedural requirements in writing of a prescription.

Keywords

prescriptions, dental prescriptions, prescription errors, prescription writing

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