ETP could cut dispensing errors in half

Dispensing errors could be cut by nearly 50% if pharmacists used an authentification system linked to the electronic transfer of prescriptions (ETP), according to the biggest piece of research to date on dispensing errors in UK pharmacies.

The study, published in the International Journal of Pharmacy Practice, looked at the number of dispensing errors at 11 UK pharmacies by comparing items waiting to be collected with the original prescription and predicting the likely impact of three different systems of authentification at the point of dispensing.

The researchers from the Centre for Medication Safety and Service Quality at Imperial Healthcare Trust in London found a content error in 49 (1.7%) of 2,859 dispensed items, and a labelling error in 46 (1.6%). An expert panel assessed the potential clinical significance of the errors and the likely impact of different methods of authentification using barcodes or radiofrequency identification tags.

The panel estimated that a stand-alone system would prevent about one in five content errors and very few labelling errors, a patient medical record-linked system would prevent a quarter of content errors and a third of labelling errors, and an ETP-linked system would prevent nearly half of content (45%) and labelling errors (48%).

They concluded that none of the three systems would have prevented the one serious error identified but that 22-60% of moderate errors could have been prevented, depending on the system used.

The most common labelling errors were incorrect instructions and incorrect drug name and the most common content errors were too many or too few dose units. Of the 95 errors identified, 64 were considered minor (67 %), 30 were considered moderate (32 %) and one severe (1 %). The single serious error involved a labelling error.