General provisions on medication errors committed by pharmacists

Abstract

Background: Healthcare professionals are not fully aware of the harm caused by medication errors in terms of patient discomfort and economic burden. The problem being presented, we propose the analysis of the specificity of the pharmaceutical activity and the research of the errors committed by the pharmacists for the elaboration of the recommendations for their prevention. Material and methods: This research is a meta-analysis in which it quantitatively combined the results from previous studies to obtain a summary value. The research was carried out in 4 stages: identification, selection, extraction and data analysis. Results: Studying the specialized literature we identified great gaps in the knowledge of the actual data about the frequency of medication errors and their classification. Quality research is needed to determine the effectiveness of the following interventions: implementation of efficient and qualitative tools that will contribute to reducing medication errors; educational interventions regarding risk factor management; developing an anonymous system for reporting medication errors; review of the schedule, workload and conditions under which pharmacists work. Conclusions: Medication errors require clear and unambiguous definitions where patients, doctors, manufacturers, and regulators will understand each other. The pharmacists’ ethics manifests itself in honest acknowledgment of their mistakes, because in this profession, as in no other profession, the slightest inaccuracy will lead to serious consequences and can be fatal for the patient.