PHYSICIANS PRESCIPTIONS MISTAKES IN A POLYCLINIC OF MANAUS, AMAZONAS, BRAZIL

Abstract

Writing errors in physicians prescriptions are an unfortunate reality in many health facilities, hampering the dispensing of medicaments by pharmacists and consequently harming the user pharmacotherapy. The overall aim of this study was to identify and quantify the most common writing errors found prescriptions received in a Public Polyclinic located in central Manaus, capital of Amazonas State. The evaluation was carried out from January 2012 to April 2012, and the results were compared with those obtained by other similar studies. The main errors found (occurrence above 10.00%) in the 378 prescriptions analyzed were illegible user name (14.40%), the illegible drug concentration (14.40%), lack of drug concentration (14.16%), illegible drug name (12.58%) and unreadable dosage (10.58%). All highlighted writing errors may be directly implicated in the incorrect dispensing of medicines and consequent treatment failure. These results show that, despite the publication of several laws governing the writing of prescriptions, additional education measures are still necessary, involving the entire interdisciplinary team of health professionals in order to minimize the occurrence and consequences of these errors and ensure efficient pharmacotherapy.