Quality of Prescription writing for children in family medicine, Suez Canal University, Egypt

Background: Worldwide prescribing errors are highly prevalent and patient safety should be a priority in different healthcare systems. Most prescribing errors are thought to be avoidable. Objectives: Identification of types of prescribing errors for children, assessment of prescribing pattern based on core WHO prescribing indicators, as well as factors affecting the quality of prescriptions. Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed at the Family Medicine department, Suez Canal University (SCU), Egypt. The randomly selected prescriptions (n=532) were audited by the researchers regarding prescribing errors and WHO indicators, using predesigned forms. The field work was conducted from February to March 2012, and the study was completed in September 2012. Results: All prescriptions had one or more omission errors. Errors of commission are not prevalent except wrong strength and dose of medicines that were detected in 10% of prescriptions. The overall mean number of drugs prescribed per patient encounter was 2.1 +/- 0.5. The percentage of total prescriptions for drugs prescribed by generic name was 1.2% while that of encounters with prescription of antibiotics and injections were 52.8 and 17%, respectively. Only, the consultation time and place of treatment were found to have significant effects on the prescriptions' quality. Conclusion: A structured prescribing training program is needed to improve physicians' prescribing skills for children in family medicine