Medication orders written and prescribing errors identified
| Pre-intervention (n(%)) | Post-intervention (n(%)) | Statistical analysis | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medication orders written | |||
| Patients on ward for some or all of study period | 129 | 147 | – |
| Patients for whom health records retrieved (% of all patients) | 113 (88) | 126 (86) | p = 0.78; χ2 test |
| Extrapolated number of medication orders written for all patients | 2450 | 2353 | – |
| Median number of medication orders per patient during study period | 16 | 10 | p = 0.009; Mann–Whitney U test |
| Prescribing errors | |||
| Prescribing errors identified (% of projected number of medication orders written) | 93 (3.8) | 48 (2.0) | p = 0.0004; χ2 test |
| Errors rectified before dose given (% of prescribing errors) | 45 (48) | 32 (67) | p = 0.06; χ2 test |
| Mean severity score | 4.2 | 4.6 | p = 0.24; unpaired t test |