Completion and variability in the abbreviations used in drug prescribing
Section: Cover story
How to quote
Alfonso Díaz I et ál. Cumplimentación y variabilidad en las abreviaturas utilizadas en las prescripciones farmacológicas. Metas de Enferm nov 2011; 14(9): 28-31
Authors
1Immaculada Alfonso Díaz, 2Ismael Peña Capsir, 3Ángeles Ibiricu Barro, 4Josefa Ocaña Alves, 1Dolores Prieto Perdigón, 4Esther Martínez González, 5Olga Doblado López
Position
1Enfermera. Atención Primaria. Hospital Lleuger Cambrils.2Coordinador Enfermería. Servicio de Urgencias. Hospital de Cambrils, Tarragona (España). 3Coordinadora de Enfermería ABS. Hospital de Cambrils, Tarragona.4Enfermera. Servicio de Urgencias. Hospital Lleuger Cambrils.5Técnico informático. Hospital Lleuger Cambrils.
Contact address
Immaculada Alfonso Díaz. Hospital Lleuger de Cambrils. Plaza Ayuntamiento, 4. 43850 Cambrils (Tarragona).
Contact email: ialfonso@grupsagessa.com
Abstract
Material and method: cross-sectional descriptive study carried out at the facilities of the Basic Health Care and Emergency area on the prescription of drugs carried out during a 24 hour period on workday Mondays over the course of 2009. The variables studied were the omissions in the completion of the different items of the drug prescription form, the typos or writing errors in the name of the drug, the abbreviations for each of the items of the drug prescription form and the symbols used.
Results: of the 674 drug prescription form obtained, 97% were incomplete, missing a dose of the drug in 63.9% of cases, the route of administration in 37.8%, the dose schedule of the drug in 90.8% and duration of treatment in 88%. Errors were found in the writing of the drug in 2.9% of cases. A large variety of written abbreviations and symbols were found for each item of the drug prescription form.
Conclusions: drug prescriptions are not filled out correctly in most cases. The great variability of abbreviations used may pose a risk of the occurrence of adverse effects in the administration of drugs. Therefore, we propose the creation of a multidisciplinary team with the aim to design a standardized prescription procedure in the electronic medical record.
Keywords:
Primary Care; quality; completion; adverse effect; drug prescriptionsclinical safety
Versión en Español
Título:
Cumplimentación y variabilidad en las abreviaturas utilizadas en las prescripciones farmacológicas
