SynthesisBritish journal of clinical pharmacology2009
What is the scale of prescribing errors committed by junior doctors? A systematic review.
Synthesis in British journal of clinical pharmacology, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 60 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
60 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Medication errors in hospitals in the Middle East: a systematic review of prevalence, nature, severity and contributory factors.European journal of clinical pharmacology · 2019Pooled it
- Do final-year medical students have sufficient prescribing competencies? A systematic literature review.British journal of clinical pharmacology · 2018Pooled it
- Impact of a focussed teaching programme on practical prescribing skills among final year medical students.British journal of clinical pharmacology · 2011Trial
- Prepared on Paper, Unprepared in Practice: The Transition From Medical Student to Resident Doctor.Cureus · 2026Article
- Prescribing and dosing patterns of ferric carboxymaltose for iron deficiency anemia: a real-world study from Saudi Arabia.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
- Article
- Interprofessional Educational Interventions to Improve Pharmacological Knowledge and Prescribing Competency in Medical Students and Trainees: A Scoping Review.Pharmacy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Impact of Electronic Transition and Prefilled Templates on Drug Prescription Compliance: Retrospective Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Article
- Prescribing Errors in an Ambulatory Care Setting: Mitigating Risks in Outpatient Medication Orders, Cross-Sectional Review.Global journal on quality and safety in healthcare · 2024Article
- Prescription writing pattern among the dental practitioners of a tertiary care hospital in Karachi.BMC primary care · 2024Article
- Article
- Pharmacology education in the medical curriculum: Challenges and opportunities for improvement.Pharmacology research & perspectives · 2024Review
- Confidence in Prescribing Practices: Perspectives of Senior Medical Students and Recent Graduates at Qatar University.Advances in medical education and practice · 2024Article
- Does formative assessment help students to acquire prescribing skills?European journal of clinical pharmacology · 2023Article
- Comparison of the scope of practice of physician associates with that of healthcare professions with prescribing responsibility from point of registration.Future healthcare journal · 2023Article
- Teaching rational prescribing in undergraduate medical education: a systematic search and review.European journal of clinical pharmacology · 2023Review
- Role of social comparison in preparedness for practice as a junior doctor in Singapore: a longitudinal qualitative study.BMJ open · 2022Article
- Artificial Intelligence in Pharmacovigilance: An Introduction to Terms, Concepts, Applications, and Limitations.Drug safety · 2022Article
- Student and pre-registration pharmacist performance in a UK Prescribing Assessment.International journal of clinical pharmacy · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
aimsPrescribing errors are an important cause of patient safety incidents, generally considered to be made more frequently by junior doctors, but prevalence and causality are unclear. In order to inform the design of an educational intervention, a systematic review of the literature on prescribing errors made by junior doctors was undertaken.
methodsSearches were undertaken using the following databases: MEDLINE; EMBASE; Science and Social Sciences Citation Index; CINAHL; Health Management Information Consortium; PsychINFO; ISI Proceedings; The Proceedings of the British Pharmacological Society; Cochrane Library; National Research Register; Current Controlled Trials; and Index to Theses. Studies were selected if they reported prescribing errors committed by junior doctors in primary or secondary care, were in English, published since 1990 and undertaken in Western Europe, North America or Australasia.
resultsTwenty-four studies meeting the inclusion criteria were identified. The range of error rates was 2-514 per 1000 items prescribed and 4.2-82% of patients or charts reviewed. Considerable variation was seen in design, methods, error definitions and error rates reported.
conclusionsThe review reveals a widespread problem that does not appear to be associated with different training models, healthcare systems or infrastructure. There was a range of designs, methods, error definitions and error rates, making meaningful conclusions difficult. No definitive study of prescribing errors has yet been conducted, and is urgently needed to provide reliable baseline data for interventions aimed at reducing errors. It is vital that future research is well constructed and generalizable using standard definitions and methods.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.