Error rates were high and although the majority were minor, a number of them had the potential to cause serious consequences. There were more medication changes in the medical patients and this may contribute to higher error rates in this group. There is a need to improve the accuracy of recording medicines on discharge summaries. Strategies to improve this problem are discussed.

Serial audits of the quality of prescribing on hospital medication charts can rapidly identify the extent of deficiencies in prescribing practice, facilitate interventions specifically designed to address these and monitor their influence.

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