How to Prevent or Reduce Prescribing Errors: An Evidence Brief for Policy

Front Pharmacol. 2019 Jun 12:10:439. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2019.00439. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

- Preventing prescribing errors is critical to improving patient safety.- We developed an evidence brief for policy to identify effective interventions to avoid or reduce prescribing errors.- Four options were raised: promoting educational actions on prudent prescribing directed to prescribers; incorporating computerized alert systems into clinical practice; implementing the use of tools for guiding medication prescribing; and, encouraging patient care by a multidisciplinary team, with the participation of a pharmacist.- These options can be incorporated into health systems either alone or together, and for that, it is necessary that the context be considered.- Aiming to inform decision makers, we included considerations on the implementation of these options regarding upper-middle income countries, like the Brazilian, and we also present considerations regarding equity.

Keywords: evidence brief for policy; inappropriate prescribing (MeSH term); patient safety; pharmaceutical services (MeSH); prescription errors.