The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 269 No 7212 p247-249
24 August 2002

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  EHC
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Letters to the Editor

Medication errors

Over reliance on any safety system is not ideal

From Mr N. J. Langford, MRPharmS, MRCP, and Mr A. R. Cox, MRPharmS

We read with interest the news feature (PDF 105K) entitled "Do hospital pharmacists provide a seasonal safety net for junior doctors?" (PJ, 10 August, p186). Starting a new job is always stressful, particularly your first professional post. Unsurprisingly prescription and therapeutic errors are more likely to occur at these times and the pharmacist safety net is important. However, over reliance on any safety system is not ideal; therefore some medical schools, such as Birmingham, have already sought to reduce medication errors from new prescribers by actively teaching how to write prescriptions and practical therapeutics to final year medical students.

Teaching incorporates lectures on writing prescriptions as well as a series of "roadshows" (interactive teaching based on common clinical problems). In order to ensure students have absorbed the theoretical concepts of writing prescriptions, they are examined in a practical manner using an objective structured clinical examination in therapeutics. The examination also assesses practical procedures that a junior doctor may experience such as drawing up an injection, the use of inhalers and patient counseling.

Examiners consist of both medical doctors from the University of Birmingham department of clinical pharmacology and therapeutics as well as hospital pharmacists. Students are required to demonstrate competency in this examination before being allowed to pass their final MB examinations. A practical test of therapeutic competency and prescription writing as well as an early introduction to pharmacists will hopefully help reduce medication errors and promote a stronger relationship between doctors and pharmacists in the future.

Nigel Langford
Anthony Cox
West Midlands Centre for Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting
City Hospital NHS Trust,
Birmingham

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