Prescription writing errors at a tertiary care hospital in Yemen: prevalence, types, causes and recommendations

Prescription errors are most significant problems. The current study aims was to identify prescription writing errors; causes of prescription writing errors and make recommendation to improve the quality of prescriptions in Yemen. The current study consists of two phases. Phase 1: A cross-sectional study was conducted at a tertiary care hospital in Yemen during August 2012-September 2012. Prescriptions were analyzed for the essential elements to be included in the prescription order. Phase 2: A qualitative method used in this part, face-to-face interviews with six physicians was done. A semi-structured interview guide about the causes of prescription errors and recommendations to improve the quality of prescriptions was used during this phase. The data were descriptively analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences® (SPSS) version 15 for Windows. A total of 1904 prescriptions were collected during the time of study. The results of this study shows that the majority of prescriptions considered as a poor quality prescriptions. Contact details of physicians, address of patients, weight of patients, dosage form, quantity of medications, duration of therapy, instructions of prescribed medications and spellings were the most common prescription writing errors. Many factors were identified during the study. Prescriptions errors were common in this study. Causes of prescription errors were identified in this study. Educational interventions should be implemented in Yemeni hospitals to improve the quality of prescriptions, reducing and preventing prescription errors.