Poorly Conceived Preprinted Prescriptions

Abstract

Hospital Pharmacy welcomes contributions to this column. Articles originally published in pharmacy department newsletters are reprinted here. Material is selected because of its educational value to pharmacists or because it demonstrates the type of information of interest to newsletter readers. If you wish to have your newsletter material considered for publication in this column, mail a copy—along with a computer disk containing the document—to Neil M. Davis, Editor-in-Chief, Hospital Pharmacy, 1143 Wright Drive, Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006-2721.

Comparison of state requirements for preprinted prescriptions

“…5 There are numerous potential advantages to using preprinted prescriptions, including (1) fewer medication errors (attributable to increased legibility), [6][7][8][9] (2) improved compliance with Joint Commission requirements, 5 (3) improved speed and efficiency of dispensing, (4) cost savings in conjunction with the creation of a subformulary, 10 and (5) increased prescription completeness and error reduction. 11,12 Despite these advantages, several disadvantages to preprinted prescriptions exist, including (1) the possibility of drug diversion if preprinted prescription blanks are lost or stolen, (2) the risk of medication errors when preprinted prescriptions contain multiple check-off boxes, 12 (3) practitioners may encounter ethical problems or display a bias for a particular drug product, 9,13 (4) errors resulting from prescriber alterations to preprinted prescriptions, 14 and (5) the risk of medical personnel becoming less vigilant about or assuming prescription accuracy. 15 These opportunities and obstacles should be considered before implementing the use of preprinted prescriptions at any site.…”