The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 272 No 7290 p311
13 March 2004

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Dictation proves unpopular as way to report errors

Dictating information into cassette recorders does not appear to be a popular method for community pharmacists to report prescribing interventions, US researchers have found. However, its is feasible and warrants further investigation. The researchers say that interventions to correct errors on prescriptions should be documented to provide evidence of this pharmacy service.

In a pilot study, pharmacists reported by both dictation and paper methods for six weeks each. The researchers expected reporting to be higher with dictation but reporting rates did not differ in the two phases of the study. Furthermore, seven out of the nine pharmacists involved said that they preferred the paper method, generally because they felt awkward while dictating. The researchers suggest that the study was too short to overcome pharmacists’ unfamiliarity with dictating. The study is published in the March issue of the International Journal of Pharmacy Practice (see p328).