In-office medication dispensing can reduce the chances of medication errors by eliminating many of the factors that allow these errors. Medication errors are surprisingly common and can be incredibly dangerous to patients’ health.
Approximately 100,000 medication errors are reported to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) per year.
Patients and physicians should always pay close attention to prescribed medications because of the chance for error. The last thing anyone wants is for a patient to take the wrong medication or take too much of a medication.
Medication errors can be dangerous or even fatal for patients. Luckily, these errors are often preventable. Direct dispensing can help reduce the risk for error by creating a more direct system for getting medications from physician to patient.
What Is In-Office Dispensing?
In-office dispensing is the system of preparing and delivering prescriptions to drugs in physician’s practices. This process allows physicians to have a more direct role in getting prescriptions to their patients. Modern technology and a reliable prescription dispensing services company can help physicians fill the role of pharmacist from their own office.
Reduce Errors by Cutting Out the Middleman
Direct dispensing in a physician’s office can eliminate many of the steps that “middleman” prescriptions usually go through. Physicians know exactly which medication and dosage that they wish for their patients to take and can dispense it to them directly.
Medication errors occur in somewhere between 1%-20% of prescription doses.
A major reason why medication errors occur so commonly is the amount of people who handle one prescription order. From physician to patient, the order and medication may pass through the hands of up to seven different people. The more people a prescription goes through, the more chances there are for someone to make an error along the way.
During the course of one study, 24% of medication error incidents were caused by pharmacists.
Direct dispensing eliminates the need for prescriptions to go to the pharmacy. Prescriptions from a physician can sometimes get misinterpreted as they go from the doctor to nurses to office staff and then to the pharmacist and pharmacy staff. Doctor’s handwriting, abbreviations, and dosage numbers with decimal points can all be misread somewhere along the way.
Discuss Medication Instructions Directly with Patients
When doctors distribute medication in their office, they have the opportunity to speak directly with their patients about the medication as they give it to them. Medication dosage and instructions can often be confusing. Elderly patients especially may need extra help understanding their medication.
Physicians who speak in person with their patients about their treatment plan and prescription are able to better gauge their patient’s understanding of the instructions. In person, physicians can have patients repeat back their instructions and even print detailed instructions for them to keep for reference.
With in-office dispensing, patients have the opportunity to ask questions about their medication directly to their doctor instead of to a pharmacist. Patients are often less comfortable asking questions to a pharmacist that they don’t know versus to their doctor who they have a relationship with.
Use An Automated Medication Dispensing System
Many in-office dispensing services offer high-tech software to help keep physicians and their staff organized. An automated medication dispensing will minimize medication errors by keeping track of important prescription information.
An automated dispensing system can help reduce errors by:
- Screening for look-alike and sound-alike drugs that often get mixed up
- Managing inventory
- Screening proper dosages for patients who are under 12 or over 65
- Providing safety messaging for pharmaceutical manufacturers, physicians, and patients at the point of dispense
- Alerting physicians to minimum and maximum dosages for drugs
- Eliminating some problems of communication, such as illegible handwriting
- Alerting physicians to potential mistakes before they make them
- Allowing physicians to print directions and dosage information for patients.
According to one study, the most common type of medication error made was dosage errors. Using technology to keep track of patients’ prescriptions will help prevent simple yet dangerous mistakes like improper dosage.
Get Medication Dispensing Services for Your Medical Practice
Reducing medication errors is an invaluable benefit of in-office dispensing. Medication errors can harm patients by reducing the efficacy of their treatment or causing potentially dangerous health issues.
Get started dispensing medication in your office by contacting a trusted medication dispensing services company. A quality in-office dispensing program can help you prevent prescription errors, increase patient satisfaction, create a stronger bond between physicians and patients, and even create an additional revenue source.