Wrong Prescriptions Can be Fatal

AL GHARBIA - Patient databanks and a orientation for doctors, pharmacists and patients could help reduce a six per cent rate of error in prescriptions, according to experts at a training course organised by SEHA (Abu Dhabi Health Services Company).

By Latifa Jaber

Published: Tue 24 Feb 2009, 2:03 AM

Last updated: Wed 27 Mar 2024, 11:04 AM

A UAE survey, discussed at the course, detailed a six per cent rate of errors in 1,000 medical prescriptions issued in the country.

The course was attended by more than 550 doctors, pharmacists and nurses from the private and public sectors in Al Gharbia.

Rafiq Abu Shaaban, pharmacy teacherat the College of Pharmacy of Ajman University, said the breakdown showed six per cent of prescriptions contained serious errors and 30 per cent were very dangerous.

Medicinal errors were attributed to the ignorance of a number of doctors of the serious medicinal interactions of the drugs they had prescribed, the study said.

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The UAE has 8,000 varieties of registered medicines.

SEHA director Dr Ahmed Ibrahim Saeed said there were 16 ways to ensure the safe prescription of medicines and upgrade the efficiency of the medical team. Saeed said complete information on the medicine should be available withthe pharmacy.

Doctors and patients should also be educated about the medicine and treatment. Saeed also said doctors should use computers for keeping patient data before prescribing medicines.

“The first training course on medicinal safety is designed to spread awareness on the risks of erroneous medication, whose effectscould be serious on the patient,’ said Dr. Saeed.

This requires pursuing more hi-tech programmes to provide doctors with the varieties of medicines, which cause side effects.

Dr Sahar Abu Omar, senior specialist in medical affairs at SEHA said the American Medicine Institute in 1999 revealed that in the US alone an alarming number of people had died due to wrong prescriptions.

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