World Journal of
Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences

ASSESSMENT OF PRESCRIPTION WRITING PRACTICES BASED ON RELEVANT INFORMATION IN THE PEDIATRIC PRESCRIPTIONS DISPENSED IN THE COMMUNITY PHARMACIES IN CALICUT

Aseeb Mohammed, Muhammed Hafees T. H., Milka K. Joy, Sukritha C., Dr. Parvathy, Babu G. and *Siraj Sundaran

ABSTRACT

Background and objectives: Incompleteness of prescription is one of the major cause of medication errors and which is inevitable and are exaggerated by human factors. This study was formatted to contribute the prescribers with a genuine and standard guideline for writing procedures for prescription that can minimize prescribing errors. The study was conducted to assess the current prescribing writing practices and the relevant information in the pediatric prescriptions dispensed from various community pharmacies in Calicut. Method: Prospective observational study was carried out using prescription analysis for six months in various community pharmacies in Calicut. The prescriptions were checked for completeness of relevant information of three dimensions essential for the prescription and were graded. The legibility of the prescription was also checked. Results: A total of 125 pediatric prescriptions were collected. As per grading 68% of prescription was excellent in term of the completeness of physician’s information, 26% were excellent in case of patient’s information and 20% in case of medication information. As per the legibility grading only 14.4% of prescriptions were excellent. Conclusion: Study identified certain elements of information to be considered during prescription writing. The need to critically address the legibility of prescriptions was also emphasized. The clinical pharmacy services should be extended to the community pharmacies in a more functional manner.

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