Errors

Question 1

What are the error types in community pharmacy?

Answer 1

• Selection errors
• Labelling
• Bagging

Question 2

What are the causes of errors in community pharmacy?

Answer 2

• Misreading the prescription
• Similar drug names
• Selecting the previous drug or dose from patient’s medication record
• Similar packaging

Question 3

How can we reduce the risk of errors?

Answer 3

• SOPs
• Reporting i.e. error log and learning
• Culture that is based upon the principles and values of fairness and transparency

Question 4

State the RPS error reporting guidelines

Answer 4

Standard 1: Be open and honest
Standard 2: should report
Standard 3: Learn from incidents
Standard 4: Share what you have learnt
Standard 5: Take action to change/improve practice
Standard 6: Review changes to practice