On the subject of prescriptions, the answer might be NO? BMJ OPEN has
an interesting paper on prescription errors in UK hospitals [http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/3/1/e002036.full.pdf+html].
Of 4238 prescriptions evaluated, one or more error was observed in 1857 (43.8%)
prescriptions. Of these, 1264 (41.9%) were minor, 1629 (54.1%) were
significant, 109 (3.6%) were serious and 9 (0.30%) were potentially life threatening.
It shouldn’t be terribly surprising that such errors can happen, but what was surprising
was the fact that grade was not a significant predictor of errors being made. The
paper contains lots of information about the factors influencing errors (e.g.,
number of medications), but the question as to why prescriber experience does
not seem to be important is not fully explored. It sounds like this could be a
great PhD these for a cognitive psychologist.
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