Muhammed Umar Khayam, Ruqayya Afridi, Tasweer Khan, Abdul Wahab, Ume Kalsoom Afridi, Kifayat Ullah Khan, Wasim Ahmed.
Medication Errors Assessment and Prevention by a Clinical Pharmacist in Pediatric Wards of RMI Hospital Peshawar, KPK-Pakistan.
Ann Pak Inst Med Sci Jan ;11(3):124-9.

Background: Medication errors are the most common avertible cause of unwanted adverse actions in medication practice and present a major public health encumbrance. They are common in health care settings of developing countries where inpatient care is a major threat to hospitalized infants and children. Objectives: Assessment of different types of medication errors and role of clinical pharmacists in detection and prevention of these errors were evaluated in this study. Materials and Methods: This was a cross sectional study during which medication errors were detected, monitored and prevented by clinical pharmacists (n=60; ) in the pediatric ward of RMI teaching hospital at Peshawar, Pakistan. Medication errors were classified on the basis of Pharmaceutical Care Network Europe Foundation drug-related problem coding. Results: During the study period, 136 (68 %.) medication errors were encountered in medication orders (n=200) by clinical pharmacists. Male gender was found most susceptible to medication errors (70.59%). Among the identified errors, prevalent error found was dosing error (27.21%), followed by incomplete prescription error (22.29 %%). Drug dosing, choice, use and interactions were the most frequent causes of error in medication processes, respectively. All of these errors were detected, reported, and prevented by pediatric ward clinical pharmacists. Conclusion: Medication errors occur frequently in medical wards. Clinical pharmacists' interventions can effectively prevent these errors. The types of errors indicate the need for continuous education and implementation of clinical pharmacist's interventions. Role of clinical pharmacist should be strengthen to improve the overall health care system. For this allocation of pharmacist in wards in necessary.

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