ANALYSIS OF PHYSICIANS ERRORS IN 1st AND 3rd FORM PRESCRIPTIONS IN COMMUNITY PHARMACY

Aim: To evaluate prescribing errors made by doctors in prescriptions in community pharmacy. Tasks: 1. Identify frequency of incorrect prescriptions. 2. Estimate the nature and frequency of prescription errors. 3. Compare 1st and 3rd form frequency of incorrect prescriptions. Methodology: The study conducted between June 2013 and October 2013 in the community pharmacy of Lithuania and based on methodology - analysis of documents. The compliance of Legal Acts of the Republic of Lithuania of prescriptions was assessed in standardized analysis form, but the data which may identify a person were not recorded. The study included all randomly 1st and 3rd form prescriptions partaking in community pharmacy of selected days. Total 1174 1st and 3rd form prescription were analyzed. (1st form – 806, 3rd form - 368). The statistical analysis of the quantitative findings was performed using the data accumulation and analysis software package SPSS version 17.0 for Windows. P-values less than 0.05 were considered to be significant. Results: The study showed that 38% of all investigated prescriptions were not met the requirements of Legal Acts of the Republic of Lithuania. The most common mistake – the individual structural components of prescriptions were incorrect or incompletely filled. Errors were occurred more often in 1st form prescriptions (43%) than in 3rd form (26%) (p