How do community pharmacies recover from e-prescription errors?

Handing Off Electronic Prescription Data From Prescribers to Community Pharmacies: A Qualitative Analysis of Pharmacy Staff Perspectives

OBJECTIVES

The aims of the study are to understand the process of how community pharmacies handle electronic prescriptions (e-prescriptions) and learn about different errors or potential errors encountered.

METHODS

Fifteen remote, semistructured interviews were conducted with community pharmacy staff. Interview analysis was done with two adapted Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety methods to understand the workflow and an affinity wall, which led to key words that were tallied to understand the frequency of different issues.

RESULTS

Data entry in community pharmacies is a process that varies based on the different software platforms receiving e-prescriptions. Data entry of a medication product is typically a human-reliant process matching an e-prescription with an equivalent medication product. Current automated safety supports focus on matching the dispensed medication to the medication chosen at data entry. Substitutions may be required for a variety of reasons, however, pharmacists' comfort and permissions in doing so without provider involvement fluctuates.

CONCLUSIONS

Prescription errors remain that could be prevented with additional support at the data entry step of e-prescriptions. Few studies demonstrate where these errors originate and what role current technology plays in contributing to or preventing these errors. Future work must consider how these matches between prescribed medications and pharmacy fulfilled medications occur. There is a need to identify potential tools to support data entry and prevent medication errors.

A Preliminary Scoping Review of the Impact of e-Prescribing on Pharmacists in Community Pharmacies

OBJECTIVE

This scoping review aims to map the available literature and provide an overview of the published articles discussing the impact of electronic prescribing on medication errors and pharmacy workflow.

METHODS

The literature search was conducted using PubMed®, Web of Science®, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews®, as well as grey literature reports, using the search terms and related components of "pharmacists", "electronic prescribing", "medication errors", and "efficiency". The search included all articles that were published from January 2011 to September 2023. Twenty-two relevant articles were identified and fully reviewed, ten of which were included in this review.

RESULTS

Electronic prescribing (e-prescribing) provides a solution for some of the challenges that are associated with handwritten and paper prescriptions. However, the implementation of e-prescribing systems has been recognized as a source of new unforeseen medication errors in all the reviewed articles. Productivity in community pharmacies has been affected with receiving electronic prescriptions (e-prescriptions) and having to deal with the issues that arise from them. The pharmacists' interventions were not eliminated with e-prescriptions compared to other prescription formats. The most frequently reported reason for intervention was related to incomplete instructions in the field of directions of use. Other common challenges with e-prescriptions were related to missing information, quantity, inappropriate dose, dosage form, and drug.

DISCUSSION

This review demonstrates the scarcity of research about the impact of electronic prescribing on medication error and efficiency in community pharmacies. In the literature, most of the studies had mainly focused on hospital pharmacies. The literature search demonstrated that there are still some barriers to overcome with e-prescribing systems and that medication errors were not fully eliminated with e-prescriptions. New errors have been identified with e-prescriptions, all of which caused delays in processing, which affected the productivity of the pharmacy staff, and could have negatively impacted patients' safety if not properly resolved.

CONCLUSION

e-Prescribing solved some of the challenges associated with illegibility of handwritten prescriptions. However, more time is required to allow e-prescribing systems to mature. Further training for prescribers and pharmacists is also recommended before and after the implementation.

Application of behavioural theories, models, and frameworks in pharmacy practice research based on published evidence: a scoping review

BACKGROUND

Pharmacy practice research often focuses on the design, implementation and evaluation of pharmacy services and interventions. The use of behavioural theory in intervention research allows understanding of interventions' mechanisms of action and are more likely to result in effective and sustained interventions.

AIM

To collate, summarise and categorise the reported behavioural frameworks, models and theories used in pharmacy practice research.

METHOD

PubMed, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Web of Science and EBSCO (CINAHL PLUS, British Education index, ERIC) were systematically searched to capture all pharmacy practice articles that had reported the use of behavioural frameworks, theories, or models since inception of the database. Results were filtered to include articles published in English in pharmacy practice journals. Full-text screening and data extraction were independently performed by two reviewers. A narrative synthesis of the data was adopted. Studies were reviewed for alignment to the UK Medical Research Council (MRC) framework to identify in which phase(s) of the research that the theory/model/framework had been employed.

RESULTS

Fifty articles met the inclusion criteria; a trend indicating an increasing frequency of behavioural theory/frameworks/models within pharmacy practice research was identified; the most frequently reported were Theory of Planned Behaviour and Theoretical Domains Framework. Few studies provided explicit and comprehensive justification for adopting a specific theory/model/framework and description of how it underpinned the research was lacking. The majority were investigations exploring determinants of behaviours, or facilitators and barriers to implementing or delivering a wide range of pharmacy services and initiatives within a variety of clinical settings (aligned to Phase 1 UK MRC framework).

CONCLUSION

This review serves as a useful resource for future researchers to inform their investigations. Greater emphasis to adopt a systematic approach in the reporting of the use of behavioural theories/models/frameworks will benefit pharmacy practice research and will support researchers in utilizing behavioural theories/models/framework in aspects of pharmacy practice research beyond intervention development.

Quality of prescription writing in Brazilian primary health care

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the quality of prescription writing in the context of public primary health care.

BACKGROUND

Prescription errors are one of the leading patient safety problems in primary care and can be caused by errors in therapeutic decisions or in the quality of prescription writing.

METHODS

Cross-sectional observational study conducted in a municipality in Northeastern Brazil. The assessment instrument (including 13 indicators and one composite indicator) was applied to a representative sample of drug prescriptions from the 24 Family Health Teams providing Primary Health Care in the municipality, dispensed in January 2021. Estimates of compliance and their 95% confidence intervals and graphical analysis of frequencies are assessed globally and stratified by dispensing units and prescribers.

FINDINGS

The average composite prescription writing quality on a 0-100 scale was 60.2 (95% CI 57.8-62.6). No quality criteria had 100% compliance. The highest compliance rates were found for 'frequency of administration' (98.9%) and 'identification of the prescriber' (98.9%). On the other hand, 'recorded information on allergy' (0.0%), 'patient's date of birth' (1.7%), 'nonpharmacological recommendations' (1.7%), and 'guidance on the use of the drug' (25%) were the indicators with lower compliance, contributing to 69% of the noncompliances found. The type and frequency of the errors in the quality of prescription writing uncovered in this study confirm the continuing need to tackle this problem to improve patient safety. The results identify priority aspects for interventions and further studies on the quality of prescription writing in the context of Primary Health Care in Brazil.

Implementation outcomes of the Structured and Codified SIG format in electronic prescription directions

OBJECTIVE

To determine the extent of implementation, completeness, and accuracy of Structured and Codified SIG (S&C SIG) directions on electronic prescriptions (e-prescriptions).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A retrospective analysis of a random sample of 3.8 million e-prescriptions sent from electronic prescribing (e-prescribing) software to outpatient pharmacies in the United States between 2019 and 2021. Natural language processing was used to identify direction components, including action verb, dose, frequency, route, duration, and indication from free-text directions and were compared to the S&C SIG format. Inductive qualitative analysis of S&C direction identified error types and frequencies for each component.

RESULTS

Implementation of the S&C SIG format in e-prescribing software resulted in 32.4% of e-prescriptions transmitted with these standardized directions. Directions using the S&C SIG format contained a greater percentage of each direction component compared to free-text directions, except for the indication component. Structured and codified directions contained quality issues in 10.3% of cases.

DISCUSSION

Expanding adoption of more diverse direction terminology for the S&C SIG formats can improve the coverage of directions using the S&C SIG format. Building out e-prescribing software interfaces to include more direction components can improve patient medication use and safety. Quality improvement efforts, such as improving the design of e-prescribing software and auditing for discrepancies, are needed to identify and eliminate implementation-related issues with direction information from the S&C SIG format so that e-prescription directions are always accurately represented.

CONCLUSION

Although directions using the S&C SIG format may result in more complete directions, greater adoption of the format and best practices for preventing its incorrect use are necessary.

Comparing the variability of ingredient, strength, and dose form information from electronic prescriptions with RxNorm drug product descriptions

OBJECTIVE

To determine the variability of ingredient, strength, and dose form information from drug product descriptions in real-world electronic prescription (e-prescription) data.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A sample of 10 399 324 e-prescriptions from 2019 to 2021 were obtained. Drug product descriptions were analyzed with a named entity extraction model and National Drug Codes (NDCs) were used to get RxNorm Concept Unique Identifiers (RxCUI) via RxNorm. The number of drug product description variants for each RxCUI was determined. Variants identified were compared to RxNorm to determine the extent of matching terminology used.

RESULTS

A total of 353 002 unique pairs of drug product descriptions and NDCs were analyzed. The median (1st-3rd quartile) number of variants extracted for each standardized expression in RxNorm, was 3 (2-7) for ingredients, 4 (2-8) for strength, and 41 (11-122) for dosage forms. Of the pairs, 42.35% of ingredients (n = 328 032), 51.23% of strengths (n = 321 706), and 10.60% of dose forms (n = 326 653) used matching terminology, while 16.31%, 24.85%, and 13.05% contained nonmatching terminology, respectively.

DISCUSSION

A wide variety of drug product descriptions makes it difficult to determine whether 2 drug product descriptions describe the same drug product (eg, using abbreviations to describe an active ingredient or using different units to represent a concentration). This results in patient safety risks that lead to incorrect drug products being ordered, dispensed, and used by patients. Implementation and use of standardized terminology may reduce these risks.

CONCLUSION

Drug product descriptions on real-world e-prescriptions exhibit large variation resulting in unnecessary ambiguity and potential patient safety risks.

Medication incident recovery and prevention utilising an Australian community pharmacy incident reporting system: the QUMwatch study

PURPOSE

To identify factors in community pharmacy that facilitate error recovery from medication incidents (MIs) and explore medication safety prevention strategies from the pharmacist perspective.

METHODS

Thirty community pharmacies in Sydney, Australia, participated in a 30-month prospective incident reporting program of MIs classified in the Advanced Incident Management System (AIMS) and the analysis triangulated with case studies. The main outcome measures were the relative frequencies and patterns in MI detection, minimisation, restorative actions and prevention recommendations of community pharmacists.

RESULTS

Participants reported 1013 incidents with 831 recovered near misses and 165 purported patient harm. MIs were mainly initiated at the prescribing (68.2%) and dispensing (22.6%) stages, and most were resolved at the pharmacy (76.9%). Detection was efficient within the first 24 h in 54.6% of MIs, but 26.1% required one month or longer; 37.2% occurred after the patient consumed the medicine. The combination of specific actions/attributes (85.5%), appropriate interventions (81.6%) and effective communication (77.7%) minimised MIs. An array of remedial actions were conducted by participants including notification, referral, advice, modification of medication regimen, risk management and documentation corrections. Recommended prevention strategies involved espousal of medication safety culture (97.8%), better application of policies/procedures (84.6%) and improvements in healthcare providers' education (79.9%).

CONCLUSION

Incident reporting provided insights on the human and organisational factors involved in the recovery of MIs in community pharmacy. Optimising existing safeguards and redesigning certain structures and processes may enhance the resilience of the medication use system in primary care.

Prescriber and pharmacist attitudes toward inclusion of diagnosis or clinical indication on prescription orders

BACKGROUND

Pharmacy and medication safety organizations have long recommended that diagnosis or clinical indication be required on medication orders to improve the safety and effectiveness of care.

OBJECTIVE

To assess attitudes of Arizona prescribers and pharmacists toward the inclusion of the clinical indication or the diagnosis on prescription orders and perceived barriers to its implementation in Arizona.

METHODS

Data were obtained by questionnaires from pharmacists and primary care prescribers after a continuing pharmacy education presentation on the value of including a clinical indication or a diagnosis on prescription orders. The survey was distributed to licensed pharmacists who attended the Arizona Pharmacy Association's Southwest Clinical Pharmacy Seminar. The survey was distributed to primary care providers with active Arizona licenses who attended the Arizona Osteopathic Medical Association Annual Convention and to nurse practitioners after an Arizona Nurse Practitioner Council educational webinar. Prescriber and pharmacist responses were compared using the Mann-Whitney U test. An a priori alpha of 0.05 was used, and in the cases of multiple comparisons, a Bonferroni correction was employed.

RESULTS

A total of 74 complete questionnaires were submitted by prescribers and 54 by pharmacists. Approximately 71% of the prescribers and 66% of the pharmacists agreed that they would support voluntary inclusion of a diagnosis or a clinical indication on prescription orders (P = 0.81). However, the 2 groups disagreed on whether the inclusion of the diagnosis or clinical indication should be a requirement (44% of prescribers agreed vs. 96% of pharmacists, P < 0.001). Two perceived barriers revealed statistically significant differences, with the prescribers being more concerned about possible insurance rejections than pharmacists (P = 0.005, whereas the pharmacists were more concerned about potential software transmission accuracy than prescribers (P < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

Arizona prescribers and pharmacists in our convenience sample supported the voluntary inclusion of a diagnosis or a clinical indication on prescriptions orders but disagreed as to whether it should be required. Prescribers especially indicated they have a variety of concerns that need to be overcome before they could support a statewide mandate.

Detecting Potential Medication Selection Errors During Outpatient Pharmacy Processing of Electronic Prescriptions With the RxNorm Application Programming Interface: Retrospective Observational Cohort Study

BACKGROUND

Medication errors are pervasive. Electronic prescriptions (e-prescriptions) convey secure and computer-readable prescriptions from clinics to outpatient pharmacies for dispensing. Once received, pharmacy staff perform a transcription task to select the medications needed to process e-prescriptions within their dispensing software. Later, pharmacists manually double-check medications selected to fulfill e-prescriptions before dispensing to the patient. Although pharmacist double-checks are mostly effective for catching medication selection mistakes, the cognitive process of medication selection in the computer is still prone to error because of heavy workload, inattention, and fatigue. Leveraging health information technology to identify and recover from medication selection errors can improve patient safety.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to determine the performance of an automated double-check of pharmacy prescription records to identify potential medication selection errors made in outpatient pharmacies with the RxNorm application programming interface (API).

METHODS

We conducted a retrospective observational analysis of 537,710 pairs of e-prescription and dispensing records from a mail-order pharmacy for the period January 2017 to October 2018. National Drug Codes (NDCs) for each pair were obtained from the National Library of Medicine's (NLM's) RxNorm API. The API returned RxNorm concept unique identifier (RxCUI) semantic clinical drug (SCD) identifiers associated with every NDC. The SCD identifiers returned for the e-prescription NDC were matched against the corresponding SCD identifiers from the pharmacy dispensing record NDC. An error matrix was created based on the hand-labeling of mismatched SCD pairs. Performance metrics were calculated for the e-prescription-to-dispensing record matching algorithm for both total pairs and unique pairs of NDCs in these data.

RESULTS

We analyzed 527,881 e-prescription and pharmacy dispensing record pairs. Four clinically significant cases of mismatched RxCUI identifiers were detected (ie, three different ingredient selections and one different strength selection). A total of 546 less significant cases of mismatched RxCUIs were found. Nearly all of the NDC pairs had matching RxCUIs (28,787/28,817, 99.90%-525,270/527,009, 99.67%). The RxNorm API had a sensitivity of 1, a false-positive rate of 0.00104 to 0.00312, specificity of 0.99896 to 0.99688, precision of 0.00727 to 0.04255, and F1 score of 0.01444 to 0.08163. We found 872 pairs of records without an RxCUI.

CONCLUSIONS

The NLM's RxNorm API can perform an independent and automatic double-check of correct medication selection to verify e-prescription processing at outpatient pharmacies. RxNorm has near-comprehensive coverage of prescribed medications and can be used to recover from medication selection errors. In the future, tools such as this may be able to perform automated verification of medication selection accurately enough to free pharmacists from having to perform manual double-checks of the medications selected within pharmacy dispensing software to fulfill e-prescriptions.

Medication errors in community pharmacies: The need for commitment, transparency, and research

Medication errors place a serious medical and economic burden on the United States (U.S.) healthcare system. Since 1975, government health agencies and non-profit organizations in the U.S., such as the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the Institute of Medicine (IOM), and the Joint Commission, have undertaken initiatives intended to reduce medication errors, and there has been noteworthy progress in inpatient settings. However, there have been fewer advances in settings outside the hospital such as community pharmacies, where 4 billion prescriptions were dispensed to patients in 2017. There are limited information and research on community pharmacies' involvement in reducing and preventing medication errors. Most published studies on medication errors in community pharmacy settings are cross-sectional in design and often limited by geography, such that each study describes a single geographic region, i.e., one or a few practices in a single city or state within the U.S. An attempt to gain additional insight on how medication errors are managed was met with the inability of many pharmacy corporations to provide meaningful information. In order to reduce medication errors, improvement strategies such as transparency and bi-directional communication between pharmacists and patients are needed. Pharmacists are required by law to counsel patients, and research has shown that counseling can assist with detecting medication errors. Community pharmacies play a significant role in the U.S. healthcare system, but their efforts to reduce medication errors are not well known. By improving transparency in quality assurance processes and promoting patient engagement to improve patient safety, community pharmacies have the potential to play a more active role in reducing medication errors and safeguarding patients from harm.

Community health integration through pharmacy process and ergonomics redesign (CHIPPER)

As the expansion and utilisation of community pharmacy systems increases, so does the risk for an adverse drug event to occur. In attempts to mitigate this risk, many community pharmacies implement health information technology (IT); however, there are challenges in integrating the wider systems components necessary for a successful implementation with minimal unintended consequences. The purpose of this paper is to introduce a Community Health Integration through Pharmacy Process and Ergonomics Redesign (CHIPPER) framework, which explores the multiple angles of health IT integration to support medication delivery processes in community pharmacy systems. Specifically, CHIPPER identifies the information flows that occur between different parts of the system (initiation, upstream, midstream and downstream) with varying end-users and tasks related to medication delivery processes. In addition to the justification and presentation of the CHIPPER model, this paper reviews several broad applications for CHIPPER and presents two example studies that demonstrate the CHIPPER framework. Practitioner Summary: Most medication delivery in the US occurs through outpatient-based community pharmacy practice. Community pharmacies are challenged by inconsistent and incomplete information flow and technology integration between providers, pharmacy practitioners and patients. This paper presents a framework for improved healthcare systems engineering analysis of pharmacy practice, with case study examples.

Improving over-the-counter medication safety for older adults: A study protocol for a demonstration and dissemination study

BACKGROUND

Adverse drug events (ADEs) associated with over-the-counter (OTC) medications cause 178,000 hospitalizations each year. Older adults, aged 65 and older, are particularly vulnerable to ADEs. Of the 2.2 million older adults considered at risk for a major ADE, more than 50% are at risk due to concurrent use of an OTC and prescription medication.

OBJECTIVES

To refine the intervention and implementation strategy through diagnostic and formative evaluation; to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention for preventing misuse of high-risk OTC medications by older adults; and to evaluate the implementation of the intervention in community pharmacies.

METHODS

A system redesign intervention to decrease high-risk OTC medication misuse will be tested to reduce misuse by improving communication between older adults and community pharmacists via the following features: a redesign of the physical environment to sensitize older adults to high-risk OTC medications, and the implementation of a clinical decision tool to support the pharmacist when critically evaluating the older adult's health status. The study will be conducted in three phases: a participatory design phase, a beta phase, and a test phase. The test phase will be conducted in three mass-merchandise stores. A total of 144 older adults will be recruited. A pre (control)/post (intervention) test will determine the effectiveness of the intervention. The primary outcome will be a comparison of proportion of older adults who misuse OTC medication from baseline to post-intervention. The process of implementation in the community pharmacy setting will be evaluated using the taxonomy proposed by Proctor et al. The participatory design phase has been approved by the institution's IRB (2016-0743).

PROJECTED IMPACT

It is anticipated that this project, which focuses on achieving systems-based improvement in an underemphasized area of the medication use process, will reduce ADEs associated with inappropriate OTC medication use in older adults.

The Hidden Role of Community Pharmacy Technicians in Ensuring Patient Safety with the Use of E-Prescribing

OBJECTIVES

It has been reported that supportive personnel, such as pharmacy technicians, are key participants in the use of health information technology. The purpose of this study was to describe how pharmacy technicians use e-prescribing and to explore the characteristics of technicians that support pharmacists in ensuring patient safety.

METHODS

This was a qualitative study that used observations, interviews, and focus groups to understand the role of pharmacy technicians in e-prescribing. Fourteen pharmacy technicians and 13 pharmacists from five community pharmacies participated. Observations lasted about nine hours in each pharmacy. Follow-up interviews and two separate focus groups were later conducted. Observation field notes and audio recordings were transcribed and thematically analyzed.

RESULTS

Pharmacy technicians were primarily responsible for all steps leading up to pharmacist review of the e-prescription and dispensing of medications to the patient. Technician characteristics, including experience, certification status, and knowledge of appropriate medication use, were reported as important factors in supporting a pharmacist's role in ensuring patient safety with the use of e-prescribing.

CONCLUSION

Study findings indicate that pharmacy technicians have an important role in supporting pharmacists to prevent medication errors. Certain characteristics of pharmacy technicians were identified with the potential to improve the e-prescription medication dispensing process and decrease patient harm through the identification and resolution of errors.

Are we ready to accept the challenge? Addressing the shortcomings of contemporary qualitative health research

BACKGROUND

Qualitative approaches represent an important contributor to health care research. However, several researchers argue that contemporary qualitative research does not live up to its full potential. By presenting a snapshot of contemporary qualitative research in the field of social and administrative pharmacy, this study challenges contributors to the field by asking: Are we ready to accept the challenge and take qualitative research one step further?

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study was to initiate a constructive dialogue on the need for increased transparency in qualitative data analysis, including explicitly reflecting upon theoretical perspectives affecting the research process.

METHODS

Content analysis was used to evaluate levels of theoretical visibility and analysis transparency in selected qualitative research articles published in Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy between January 2014 and January 2015.

MAIN FINDINGS

In 14 out of 21 assessed papers, the use of theory was found to be Seemingly Absent (lowest level of theory use), and the data analyses did not include any interpretive endeavors. Only two papers consistently applied theory throughout the entire study and clearly took the data analyses from a descriptive to an interpretive level. It was found that the aim of the majority of assessed papers was to change or modify a given practice, which however, resulted in a lack of both theoretical underpinnings and analysis transparency.

CONCLUSION

This study takes the standpoint that theory and high-quality analysis go hand-in-hand. Based on the content analysis, articles that were deemed to be high in quality were explicit about the theoretical framework of their study and transparent in how they analyzed their data. It was found that theory contributed to the transparency of how the data were analyzed and interpreted. Two ways of improving contemporary qualitative research in the field of social and administrative pharmacy are discussed: engaging with social theory and establishing close collaboration with social scientists.

Barriers and facilitators to recovering from e-prescribing errors in community pharmacies

OBJECTIVE

To explore barriers and facilitators to recovery from e-prescribing errors in community pharmacies and to explore practical solutions for work system redesign to ensure successful recovery from errors.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional qualitative design using direct observations, interviews, and focus groups.

SETTING

Five community pharmacies in Wisconsin.

PARTICIPANTS

13 pharmacists and 14 pharmacy technicians.

INTERVENTIONS

Observational field notes and transcribed interviews and focus groups were subjected to thematic analysis guided by the Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety (SEIPS) work system and patient safety model.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Barriers and facilitators to recovering from e-prescription errors in community pharmacies.

RESULTS

Organizational factors, such as communication, training, teamwork, and staffing levels, play an important role in recovering from e-prescription errors. Other factors that could positively or negatively affect recovery of e-prescription errors include level of experience, knowledge of the pharmacy personnel, availability or usability of tools and technology, interruptions and time pressure when performing tasks, and noise in the physical environment.

CONCLUSION

The SEIPS model sheds light on key factors that may influence recovery from e-prescribing errors in pharmacies, including the environment, teamwork, communication, technology, tasks, and other organizational variables. To be successful in recovering from e-prescribing errors, pharmacies must provide the appropriate working conditions that support recovery from errors.

Causes and consequences of e-prescribing errors in community pharmacies

Major national policy forces are promoting the adoption and use of health information technology (health IT) to improve the quality, safety, and efficiency of health care delivery. One such health IT is electronic prescribing (e-prescribing), which is the direct transmission of prescription information from a provider to a pharmacy. Given research showing that handwritten prescriptions are unsafe and associated errors can lead to tremendous inefficiency for patients and pharmacists, e-prescribing has many potential benefits. However, as with the introduction of any new technology, unintended, adverse consequences may result. The purpose of this review is to explore the causes and consequences of e-prescribing errors in community pharmacies, which are pharmacies not affiliated with a hospital or clinic. Many new types of errors - including provider order entry errors, transcription errors, and dispensing errors - appear to result from e-prescribing. These lead to important consequences for pharmacies, including safety threats to patients, reduced efficiency for pharmacists, processing delays, and increased pharmacy cost. Increased attention to system design and pharmacist training, as well as additional research in this area, will be critical to realize the full benefits of e-prescribing.

E-prescribing errors in community pharmacies: exploring consequences and contributing factors

OBJECTIVE

To explore types of e-prescribing errors in community pharmacies and their potential consequences, as well as the factors that contribute to e-prescribing errors.

METHODS

Data collection involved performing 45 total hours of direct observations in five pharmacies. Follow-up interviews were conducted with 20 study participants. Transcripts from observations and interviews were subjected to content analysis using NVivo 10.

RESULTS

Pharmacy staff detected 75 e-prescription errors during the 45 h observation in pharmacies. The most common e-prescribing errors were wrong drug quantity, wrong dosing directions, wrong duration of therapy, and wrong dosage formulation. Participants estimated that 5 in 100 e-prescriptions have errors. Drug classes that were implicated in e-prescribing errors were antiinfectives, inhalers, ophthalmic, and topical agents. The potential consequences of e-prescribing errors included increased likelihood of the patient receiving incorrect drug therapy, poor disease management for patients, additional work for pharmacy personnel, increased cost for pharmacies and patients, and frustrations for patients and pharmacy staff. Factors that contribute to errors included: technology incompatibility between pharmacy and clinic systems, technology design issues such as use of auto-populate features and dropdown menus, and inadvertently entering incorrect information.

CONCLUSION

Study findings suggest that a wide range of e-prescribing errors is encountered in community pharmacies. Pharmacists and technicians perceive that causes of e-prescribing errors are multidisciplinary and multifactorial, that is to say e-prescribing errors can originate from technology used in prescriber offices and pharmacies.