The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 270 No 7236 p230
15 February 2003

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Letters to the Editor

Medication errors

Illegibility problems with computer prescriptions

From Mr W. D. Fisher, MRPharmS

I see that Sir Liam Donaldson has written to doctors alerting them to the dangers of illegible handwriting (PJ, 8 February, p178).

However, he does not appear to have addressed the problem of illegible or near illegible prescriptions caused by the use of worn out computer ribbons and misaligned patient details, medicines and doses, which often do not show over the printing on the National Health Service prescription forms.

How many "near misses" — or worse — have these caused ?

Walter Fisher
Manchester

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