Objective:To determine the nature and types of medication errors (MEs), to evaluate occurrence of drug-drug interactions (DDIs), and assess rationality of prescription orders in a tertiary care teaching hospital.Materials and Methods:A prospective, observational study was conducted in General Medicine and Pediatric ward of Civil Hospital, Ahmedabad during October 2012 to January 2014. MEs were categorized as prescription error, dispensing error, and administration error (AE). The case records and treatment charts were reviewed. The investigator also accompanied the staff nurse during the ward rounds and interviewed patients or care taker to gather information, if necessary. DDIs were assessed by Medscape Drug Interaction Checker software (version 4.4). Rationality of prescriptions was assessed using Phadke's criteria.Results:A total of 1109 patients (511 in Medicine and 598 in Pediatric ward) were included during the study period. Total number of MEs was 403 (36%) of which, 195 (38%) were in Medicine and 208 (35%) were in Pediatric wards. The most common ME was PEs 262 (65%) followed by AEs 126 (31%). A potential significant DDIs were observed in 191 (17%) and serious DDIs in 48 (4%) prescriptions. Majority of prescriptions were semirational 555 (53%) followed by irrational 317 (30%), while 170 (17%) prescriptions were rational.Conclusion:There is a need to establish ME reporting system to reduce its incidence and improve patient care and safety.

Objectives:To find out the impact of teaching clinical pharmacology and rational therapeutics (CPT) to medical undergraduates (UGs) and interns.Materials and Methods:This cross-sectional, prospective study was conducted on three UGs batches and interns using two pretested validated structured questionnaires, modified from the work of Tobaiqy et al. The study was approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee. ANOVA and Chi-square test were used for statistical analysis. The value of P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results:A total of 379 UGs and 96 interns participated in this study. Mean knowledge score of interns was significantly reduced as compared to UGs (P < 0.0001). A significant increase in confidence for unsupervised prescribing of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (99%), oral rehydration salt, iron salts was perceived among interns as compared to UGs (P < 0.05). However, 63.5% confessed problems in selection of drugs, drug–drug interactions, prescribing in special patient population. Although they were confident prescribing fixed dose combination for adult patients (89.5%), majority were hesitant to prescribe opioids (77%), steroids (76%), vaccines (75%), and antihypertensives (62%).Conclusion:The theoretical CPT teaching transfers knowledge to UGs; however, it is not retained in internship and does not adequately prepare interns to prescribe safe and rational drugs.