Chemconsult® online continues to show high prescription error rates
HIP’s medication consulting program is still showing a high number of scripts with errors or medication conflicts - at least 20% of all prescriptions going through the system are being picked up with drug interactions or other issues.
The figure for incorrect dosage for age/weight - which flags if a child has been prescribed an adult dose or vice versa - remains high at 20.68% across the 5823 consultations that have been logged on the system as at 7th January.
In addition, around one in twenty prescriptions (4.5%) going through Chemconsult® are being flagged as having a potential interaction with another drug being taken by the patient.
The importance of the pharmacist’s role as a ‘safety net’ for prescription errors was highlighted last year in articles in the Weekend Australian and Daily Telegraph noting a significant decrease in reports from GPs of adverse reactions to drugs.
Reports to the Therapeutic Goods Administration by GPs of adverse drug reactions have fallen from 4000 to about 1000 a year since 2002. Over this period the reporting mechanism for GPs changed from filling out a blue report card to reporting online - and 48% of GPs didn’t use the new system because it was too hard to navigate.
With the Federal Government and the Pharmacy Guild now gearing up for negotiations on the next Guild-Government agreement due next year, you can be sure that the role of pharmacists in this area will once again be under close scrutiny.
02.02.09
