Investigating Dental Prescribing Errors among General Dental Practitioners of Karaj In 2018

Prescribing medication and prescribing was the last stage of communication between doctor and patient, the quality of which plays an important role in achieving the desired treatment outcome. This study aimed to investigate prescription behavior of dentists and common prescription errors by dentists in Karaj Province in 2018.

In this study, 1254 prescriptions by dentists in Karaj Province from April 2018 to February 2019, from Social Security and Therapeutic Services insurance organizations were evaluated, in order to access the required information a checklist containing essentials of Standard and correct medical prescription was provided. Then, each medical prescription was reviewed for what was said and the error was recorded in the existing list. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 21 using chi-square test.

The prevalence of prescription errors in dentists in Karaj (94%) was estimated, most common errors observed in the reviewed medical prescriptions were respectively number of each drug (88%), the mistake in the dosage (54%), the unidentified intervals of prescribed medications (35%), the mistakes in writing the name Medication (21%); mistake in writing the drug form (18%); administration of more than 3 drugs in one copy (17%); mistakes in the prescription drug (12%) and not the end of the prescription (8.1%).

According to the findings of present study, the medical prescriptions reviewed did not satisfy correct prescribing principles, This could delay or endanger the success of treatment and improvement of patients, Based on this information gap, it is essential that more emphasis is Systematic and targeted training of dentists during the course of dentistry as well as the development of retraining planning.