JAMA & ARCHIVES
Arch Fam Med
SEARCH
GO TO ADVANCED SEARCH
HOME  PAST ISSUES  TOPIC COLLECTIONS  CME  PHYSICIAN JOBS  CONTACT US  HELP
Institution: STANFORD Univ Med Center  | My Account | E-mail Alerts | Access Rights | Sign In
  Vol. 6 No. 3, May 1997 TABLE OF CONTENTS
  Archives
  •  Online Features
  BRIEF REPORTS
 This Article
 •References
 •Full text PDF
 •Send to a friend
 • Save in My Folder
 •Save to citation manager
 •Permissions
 Citing Articles
 •Citation map
 •Citing articles on HighWire
 •Contact me when this article is cited
 Related Content
 •Similar articles in this journal

Prescription Errors

Legibility and Drug Name Confusion

Robert T. Brodell, MD; Stephen E. Helms, MD; Indira KrishnaRao, MD; Donald L. Bredle, PhD

Arch Fam Med. 1997;6(3):296-298.


Abstract

Inadvertent drug substitution occurred in several instances in our practices due to the combination of the physician's illegible handwriting on prescriptions and the pharmacist's misinterpretation of subtle clues, which might have prevented the errors. The literature on the legibility of physician handwriting is reviewed. Our specific recommendations include using preprinted prescription pads, training staff assistants who write prescriptions, printing complete directions on each prescription, and aggressively educating each patient about the name and purpose of all drugs being prescribed. Patients are encouraged to bring their medications to each office visit to identify potential errors.



Author Affiliations

From the Dermatology Section, Department of Internal Medicine, Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine, Rootstown (Drs Brodell, Helms, KrishnaRao, and Bredle), and the Department of Dermatology, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio (Drs Brodell and Helms).



THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Misdosing of Medications Prompts Most Poison Calls About Young Infants
Nemeth and Katcher
AAP Grand Rounds 2006;15:31-31.
FULL TEXT  

Comparison of state requirements for preprinted prescriptions
Netzer and Clauson
Am J Health Syst Pharm 2005;62:2278-2282.
FULL TEXT  

Illegible handwriting in medical records
Rodriguez-Vera et al.
JRSM 2002;95:545-546.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Evaluation of a Command-line Parser-based Order Entry Pathway for the Department of Veterans Affairs Electronic Patient Record
Lovis et al.
J. Am. Med. Inform. Assoc. 2001;8:486-498.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  




HOME | CURRENT ISSUE | PAST ISSUES | TOPIC COLLECTIONS | CME | PHYSICIAN JOBS | HELP
CONDITIONS OF USE | PRIVACY POLICY | CONTACT US | SITE MAP
 
© 1997 American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved.